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INTERVIEW Siemens committed to digitalizing Korean manufacturers
Tino Hildebrand, head of Siemens Digital Industries Korea, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, July 2. Courtesy of Siemens Korea
By Park Jae-hyuk
German company advises gov't to prioritize industrial-grade AI
When Tino Hildebrand arrived in Korea in 2022 as executive vice president of Siemens to lead the German company's Digital Industries Division in the Asian country, he considered it both an honor and a challenge to help drive the digital transformation of the world's leading enterprises here.
As someone who spent a significant part of his career at Siemens, he was tasked with meeting Korean manufacturers' needs to change the way of operating factories after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reflecting on his three years in Korea, he said his team achieved many of the goals it had set by supporting the digital transformation of Korea's manufacturing, machinery, logistics and industrial infrastructure sectors.
"Korea is home to some of the world's most advanced and ambitious industrial players," he told The Korea Times in a recent interview. "We have worked side by side with Korean customers to co-develop and implement digital strategies tailored to their industries."
The executive vice president emphasized Siemens' unique approach of combining information technology (IT) with operational technology (OT) to digitalize factories.
Unlike most U.S. tech giants that focus solely on IT without fully understanding factory operations, Siemens has been recognized for leveraging its manufacturing expertise to support customers' digital transformation.
Through IT-OT integration, Hildebrand said Siemens has enabled Korean companies to create digital twins of their factories, allowing simulation before physical rollout.
"In the battery industry, we've successfully supported major production ramp-ups by providing digital twin-based planning and standardized architectures across multiple sites," he said. "As Korea continues to expand its battery manufacturing footprint, our accumulated experience positions us to deliver even greater customer value across future deployments."
The concept of digital twins has recently evolved into the industrial metaverse, as the technology converges with cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
"Building on our digital twin foundation, we introduced immersive engineering and AI-powered autonomous systems," Hildebrand said.
He cited Siemens' partnership with HD Hyundai and Nvidia as an example.
During the 2024 GPU Technology Conference in California, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang showcased how HD Hyundai used the U.S. semiconductor company's Omniverse platform and Siemens' PLM software to design its liquefied natural gas carrier, which consists of 7 million components.
At that time, their cooperation was presented as a stepping stone toward building an industrial metaverse.
In April, when Siemens participated in the Hannover Messe trade fair in Germany alongside the largest Korean customer delegations, the company showcased the result of another collaboration with Nvidia: the Teamcenter Digital Reality Viewer, which enables photorealistic and immersive digital twins.
"Our roadmap is clear: Enable Korea to move from automation to autonomy, from efficiency to circularity and from data to action — faster than ever before," Hildebrand said.
Spectators crowd the exhibition booth of Siemens during the 2025 Hannover Messe trade fair in Hannover, Germany in April. Courtesy of Siemens Korea
Korea's AI initiative
Before joining Siemens Korea, Hildebrand worked across the company's East Asian operations in Japan and Taiwan.
Drawing on this experience, he recognized Korea for its global-scale industrial players that demonstrated strategic ambition, rapid decision-making and execution, and a highly collaborative mindset.
"Korea's dynamic approach is especially well-aligned with Siemens' vision for enabling digital transformation," he said.
Regarding the government's efforts to enhance national AI investments, Hildebrand saw it as a valuable opportunity for Korea to advance its industrial competitiveness by applying AI to core industries like manufacturing, logistics and infrastructure.
He specifically advised Korea to prioritize industrial-grade AI, focusing on robust, secure and explainable solutions that are proven to work in critical production environments rather than purely experimental or lab-based concepts.
Other priorities he mentioned include investing in talent and skill development, expanding real-world industrial pilot projects and connecting AI with sustainability and energy goals to maximize the effectiveness of Korea's AI initiatives.
"Siemens Digital Industries Korea is committed to supporting these directions with proven industrial-grade AI technologies, global experience and strong local partnerships to help Korea build a resilient, competitive and sustainable industrial base for the future," Hildebrand said.