Schneider Electric is acquiring software company Cognite for $3.1 billion. With this acquisition, the French technology group is bringing a specialist in industrial data and AI into its fold. Cognite will be integrated into AVEVA and is expected to significantly expand AI capabilities for industrial automation.
The acquisition covers all of Cognite’s shares and will be paid entirely in cash. Schneider Electric expects to complete the transaction in the coming quarters, subject to regulatory approval.
Industrial AI takes on a greater role
With this acquisition, Schneider Electric is responding to the shift in AI within the industry. Whereas AI has primarily been used for analytics and predictive maintenance up to now, the focus is shifting toward systems that can independently support and automate processes.
This requires more than just language models. Industrial AI relies on large amounts of operational data from diverse sources, which must first be correlated. Cognite develops software that brings this data together into a single data model and enriches it with a so-called knowledge graph. This then forms the basis for AI applications in areas such as manufacturing, asset management, and engineering.
Schneider Electric plans to integrate Cognite into AVEVA, its software subsidiary that focuses on industrial design, management, and optimization software. According to the company, the technologies of both companies complement each other well.
AVEVA’s existing CONNECT platform will thus gain functionality for contextualizing data at the enterprise level and for agentic AI. This should make it easier to grant AI systems access to data from various industrial environments and existing IT landscapes.
Cognite’s technology will serve as the data layer beneath CONNECT. Cognite’s Atlas AI platform adds generative AI and agentic AI to this, enabling further automation of industrial workflows.
Cognite was founded in 2017 and now has over 800 employees across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The company provides cloud-native software for sectors with capital-intensive installations, such as the process industry, energy, and manufacturing.
According to Schneider Electric, Cognite generated revenue of more than $170 million in 2025. In addition, annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 36 percent. This growth was partly attributed to the rapid adoption of the Atlas AI platform.
AI becomes more strategic in industrial software
The acquisition demonstrates that competition in industrial AI is shifting away from individual AI models and increasingly toward the data infrastructure on which those models run. Vendors are striving to offer customers comprehensive platforms that integrate industrial data, software, and AI.
For Schneider Electric, the acquisition also strengthens AVEVA, which has been a key player in the industrial software sector for many years. With Cognite, the company gains access to technology developed to integrate complex operational data and apply AI within industrial processes. This strengthens Schneider Electric’s position in a market where AI is becoming an increasingly integral part of the automation of factories and critical infrastructure.