A full German infrastructure for AI-driven product development, built on data sovereignty, engineering precision, and the speed industrial innovation demands.

Sphere Energy, developer of the APEX Foundation AI Operating System for the engineering world, and STACKIT, the cloud provider of Schwarz Digits, today announce a strategic partnership. STACKIT will provide the cloud infrastructure underpinning Sphere Energy’s AI services, ensuring that the data of engineering clients remains exclusively on European soil, processed under European jurisdiction, and independent of non-European providers.

The partnership marks a further step in building a vertically integrated, European AI infrastructure for industrial product development. Earlier this year, DEKRA, Europe’s largest independent technical service organization, became a strategic shareholder in Sphere Energy. STACKIT now completes the infrastructure layer: from AI model and domain expertise, to certification authority, to sovereign cloud.
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The Core Problem: Engineering Innovation Needs Speed and Sovereignty

Product development cycles in mechanical engineering, automotive, and industrial manufacturing are under relentless pressure. Development timelines are shrinking and regulatory complexity is growing. The companies building Germany's industrial base need tools that compress the time from concept to validated product.

AI delivers exactly that compression. But using AI in industrial product development means feeding it with some of the most sensitive data a company holds: design parameters, simulation outputs, test results, and proprietary material data. Routing that data through infrastructure outside European control is not an acceptable trade-off. With this partnership, it no longer has to be.
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What the Partnership Delivers

The collaboration provides Sphere Energy's clients with three concrete capabilities:

• AI at industrial scale. STACKIT's cloud infrastructure provides the computing power required to run Sphere Energy's APEX Foundation AI Operating System. APEX integrates physics-informed AI models with industrial data pipelines to accelerate the core phases of product development: requirements definition, simulation, testing, validation, and certification.
• Data sovereignty, without compromise. All client data is stored and processed exclusively in European data centers with full GDPR compliance. No dependency on US or Asian hyperscalers; Engineering IP stays where it was created.
• A platform built to grow. STACKIT's infrastructure scales with customer adoption supporting early proof-of-concept deployments through to company-wide APEX rollouts across global engineering teams.
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Executive Statements

“The German engineering industry built its global reputation on precision, reliability, and a refusal to accept false trade-offs. We apply the same standard to AI. Speed matters but not at the cost of security or sovereignty. With STACKIT providing our infrastructure layer and DEKRA as a strategic shareholder, we have built a foundation that German industry can trust.”

— Lukas Lutz, Co-Founder and CEO, Sphere Energy

"In the era of industrial AI, data is a company’s most valuable asset. Our partnership with Sphere Energy proves that cutting-edge AI performance and digital sovereignty are not mutually exclusive. We deliver the secure cloud environment that allows engineering teams to innovate fast, knowing their core intellectual property is fully protected under European law." 

— Robin Hermann, CTO STACKIT, Schwarz Digits
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About Sphere Energy GmbH

Sphere Energy develops an AI Operating System (APEX), purpose-built for the engineering world. APEX integrates physics-informed AI models with industrial data pipelines to accelerate the core phases of product development: requirements definition, simulation, testing, validation, and documentation. Sphere Energy started in the energy technology domain, where APEX reduces development timelines by up to 50% for clients in automotive, aerospace, and industrial manufacturing. The company now expands into the broader field of product engineering and operates from offices in Augsburg, Munich, and Zurich. DEKRA is a strategic shareholder.

About Schwarz Digits

Schwarz Digits is the IT and digital division of Schwarz Group and offers impressive digital products and services that meet the high German data protection standards. With the aim of achieving the greatest possible digital sovereignty, Schwarz Digits provides the IT infrastructure and solutions for the extensive ecosystem of Schwarz Group's companies and develops it for the future. Schwarz Digits' sovereign core services include Cloud, Cyber Security, Data and AI, Communication and Workspace. In addition, Schwarz Digits creates optimal conditions for the development of trend-setting innovations for end customers, companies and public sector organizations.

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