Investment summit in Berlin: Merz hosts 200 CEOs, with Nvidia's Jensen Huang as star guest
Germany's government holds its first investor summit. On Monday evening Chancellor Merz gives a speech and then joins Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for an on-stage conversation.
Archive image · Photo: Anderseidesvik / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Germany's federal government is holding its first "Invest in Germany Summit" on Monday and Tuesday. About 200 international and German chief executives and investors are meeting senior politicians. On Monday evening Chancellor Friedrich Merz opens a reception at Kraftwerk Berlin with a speech and an on-stage conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
The main conference follows on Tuesday at the ESMT business school on Schlossplatz, in the former East German State Council building. Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil and about half the cabinet are also taking part. According to dpa, first deals are expected, including one with Nvidia on industrial AI.
The backdrop is weak investment: Allianz Research says total investment in Germany fell 6.4% between 2019 and 2025, while it rose 6.7% in the rest of the euro area and 20.2% in the US. High energy costs, taxes and levies, and red tape are cited as obstacles. The government wants private capital for power grids, defence, semiconductors, data centres and transport.