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Intel Corp. today said it is collaborating with SAP AG to bridge business IT systems and the operational technology, or OT, that controls physical equipment and processes. The companies said the physical AI initiative establishes a model in which business intent can drive real-world action while status, outcomes, and exceptions flow back into enterprise systems.
“Organizations want to connect AI directly to physical operations,” stated John Healy, vice president and general manager for industrial and robotics at Intel. “By combining SAP’s enterprise context and orchestration with Intel’s edge AI and robotics technologies, we can help customers move physical AI from business decision to real-world execution.”
SAP and Intel said a proof of concept (PoC) demonstrated how physical AI can automate material handling in the warehouse. They asserted that it turned enterprise requests into autonomous robot tasks.
PoC connected requests to robots
Requests initiated in SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) were dispatched to autonomous robots with Intel’s edge AI hardware and software. The robots transported materials and reported task status and completion back to SAP EWM, creating a closed loop between enterprise workflows and physical execution. The PoC demonstrated operational improvements, including a reduction in transport distance and less repetitive manual handling.
Unlike standalone automation, the approach tied IT and OT together. SAP supplied the business context, governed workflows and process rules, while Intel provided an open, real-time edge AI foundation that enables robots to perceive, navigate and act locally.
Status and exceptions were returned to enterprise systems, creating a reusable blueprint for a business-aware physical workforce that can scale across sites, robot vendors and use cases.
“Physical AI can reshape operations by connecting enterprise systems with operational technology.” noted Dr. Lukasz Ostrowski, head of physical AI and robotics for SAP Research and Innovation at SAP SE. “SAP and Intel are creating solutions to help customers integrate AI-driven automation into core processes while preserving flexibility across robotics platforms, deployment models and ecosystem partners across both hardware and software.”
Intel, SAP to help bring physical AI to the enterprise
The partners said their collaboration is designed “to translate critical business decisions made in SAP systems into efficient, precise, and responsive physical execution through SAP’s physical AI solutions and Intel’s foundational physical AI hardware and software capabilities.”
Intel brings an edge AI and robotics foundation designed to operationalize and scale multimodal AI, including scalable heterogeneous compute (CPU, GPU, and NPU working together) for local perception, inference, navigation, inspection and real-time control. The company said its physical AI approach combines heterogeneous compute, industrial-ready silicon, real-time capabilities, and open software, including OpenVINO Physical AI, Physical AI Studio and Robotics AI Suite.
Intel claimed that its common hardware and software foundation can help consolidate mixed workloads, reduce integration fragmentation, preserve ecosystem choice, and support progression from PoC to repeatable deployment.
The open, robot-agnostic architecture is designed to preserve customer choice across robot vendors, operating systems, AI models, and cloud or on-premises deployment approaches, said SAP and Intel. It is also designed to support scaling across platforms, sites, and use cases without vendor lock-in.
Together, SAP and Intel aim to turn this proof of concept into a repeatable blueprint for enterprise physical AI—helping customers scale intelligent automation across sites, robot platforms and operational use cases while preserving choice and flexibility.