As enterprise AI tools continue to change the way that businesses build and maintain software, they're likely to change the way businesses build things in the physical world as well.
Schneider Electric has agreed to acquire PTC, which makes industrial design software, for $22.6 billion, the companies announced Monday. Following its acquisition of industrial data management company Cognite earlier this year, the French conglomerate now wants to expand its software portfolio to offer additional services to the factories, data centers, and electric utilities that generate most of its business.
"As industrial AI moves beyond digital applications and is increasingly embedded in physical products and machines, processes and energy systems, new opportunities are emerging across the lifecycle," Schneider CEO Olivier Blum said in a post on LinkedIn announcing the deal. Software and services made up just 18% of Schneider's overall revenue during the second quarter of this year, and that balance is about to change.
