Rockwell Automation announced the integration of NVIDIA’s Nemotron Nano, a purpose‑built small language model, into its FactoryTalk Design Studio. The move brings generative‑AI capabilities directly to the industrial edge, enabling designers to generate control logic, insights, and documentation on HMI panels, desktop IDEs, and private‑cloud environments without a data‑center connection.
The Nemotron Nano model is optimized for edge deployment, consuming less space and power than traditional data‑center models. By fine‑tuning the open‑source Nemotron‑Nano‑9B‑v2 with FactoryTalk Design Studio data, Rockwell has created a solution that can run on air‑gapped devices, supporting both edge and private‑cloud deployments. Early evaluations show improved reasoning, parallel processing, and responsiveness—key attributes for real‑time industrial decision making.
Rockwell’s recent earnings reinforce the strategic value of this launch. In Q4 2025 the company reported adjusted EPS of $3.34, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.40, and revenue of $2.32 billion, surpassing expectations of $2.19 billion. The beat was driven by strong demand in the Software & Control segment, which saw a 23% revenue increase and a margin jump to 31.6% from 23.6% a year earlier, reflecting pricing power and operational leverage. Management cited disciplined cost control and a favorable mix shift toward higher‑margin AI‑enabled solutions as the primary reasons for the earnings outperformance.
The market reacted positively to the earnings and the new AI offering. Analysts raised price targets—Jefferies to $450, Barclays to $417, and Oppenheimer to $391—citing the company’s strong margin expansion of roughly 300 basis points over the past year and its ability to beat earnings and revenue expectations. The guidance for fiscal 2026, projecting diluted EPS between $10.40 and $11.40 and sales growth of 3% to 7%, signals management’s confidence in continued demand for edge‑AI solutions and the scalability of the new platform.
Strategically, embedding generative AI at the edge positions Rockwell to capture a growing share of the industrial‑AI market, projected to reach $268.5 billion by 2031. The integration differentiates FactoryTalk from competitors such as Siemens, ABB, and Honeywell by offering offline, air‑gapped AI that enhances security and reliability in mission‑critical environments. Tony Carrara, FactoryTalk Design Studio business manager, emphasized that “Industrial automation demands AI that works reliably at the edge and in secure environments. By fine‑tuning the open NVIDIA Nemotron model with FactoryTalk Design Studio data, we’re creating solutions that can be deployed anywhere to help our customers accelerate workflows without compromising predictability or control.”
Joey Conway, senior director of generative AI software for enterprise at NVIDIA, added, “Small language models like NVIDIA Nemotron Nano bring real‑time intelligence to where decisions are made—from factory floors to power grids. With NVIDIA Nemotron Nano, enterprises using Rockwell FactoryTalk Design Studio can deploy AI in environments with limited space and power, extending AI from data centers into the heart of real‑world operations.”
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