This press release was issued by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
Singapore’s lead public sector R&D agency, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Microsoft have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Hannover Messe in Germany, the world's leading industrial trade fair.
Bringing together A*STAR’s manufacturing R&D expertise and Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms, the MoU establishes a non-binding framework for exploring opportunities to advance AI adoption in manufacturing. In particular, exploring the following:
- Developing an agentic AI platform for manufacturing
- Strengthening AI engineering and deployment infrastructure
- Enabling ecosystem adoption and industry deployment
A*STAR’s collaboration with Microsoft highlights Singapore’s broader push to accelerate innovation and AI adoption in advanced manufacturing.
How industry could benefit
Manufacturers often face challenges in adopting AI solutions, including limited access to expertise across both AI and manufacturing, issues around data availability and standardisation, and concerns about deploying AI reliably in industrial environments.
The A*STAR-Microsoft MoU aims to reduce barriers for manufacturers to deploy advanced AI solutions developed specifically for industrial settings.
- Manufacturers could benefit from higher productivity, greater manufacturing value-add and lower operational costs through the adoption of manufacturing-specific AI tools.
- Technology partners and system integrators could benefit by licensing, integrating and deploying these technologies for end-user customers, as well as within their own service offerings
This MoU is non-binding and intended to serve as a record of shared intent.
Both parties intend to collaborate in three areas supporting the development and deployment of AI solutions for manufacturing:
- Developing an agentic AI platform for manufacturing
AIMie, an agentic AI platform of AIMfg, focuses on human-centric AI that empowers people to work more effectively alongside technology, while supporting the development of more intelligent, flexible and adaptive factories.
A*STAR and Microsoft intend to explore opportunities to advance AIMie toward an industrial agentic AI platform, enabling scalable, reusable agent-based solutions for manufacturing. Examples could include predictive maintenance, operations optimisation, and quality assurance.
AIMfg provides expertise in manufacturing agentic intelligence, while Microsoft plans to offer access to its enterprise AI platform and technology knowledge. While Microsoft Azure may serve as a primary environment for development and deployment, AIMie will remain platform-agnostic, allowing manufacturers to adopt it within their existing IT infrastructure.
- Strengthening AI engineering and deployment infrastructure
The parties intend to collaborate on AI engineering and platform practices with the goal to accelerate the development, robustness, and deployment of AIMfg’s AI applications. A*STAR and Microsoft intend to leverage AIMfg to build, train, and productise AIMfg’s manufacturing AI solutions at scale and across diverse manufacturing settings.
- Enabling ecosystem adoption and industry deployment
Both parties intend to build a network of technology partners and system integrators with capabilities in AI for manufacturing and cloud-based deployment. These partners could help deploy and integrate solutions for manufacturers, enabling wider adoption across the industry.
A*STAR’s presence at Hannover Messe 2026
Singapore is participating in Hannover Messe led by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Hannover Messe is widely regarded as the world's leading industrial trade fair, and the most important international platform for showcasing developments in industrial transformation. Apart from EDB, the Singapore pavillion features A*STAR, Enterprise Singapore and JTC Corporation. It also showcases Singapore enterprises and innovations across AI, robotics and additive manufacturing.
