Jensen Huang: “Everything Will Be Expressed as a Virtual Twin” — NVIDIA-Dassault’s Biggest Partnership in 25 Years of Collaboration

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Jensen Huang: “Everything Will Be Represented in a Virtual Twin” — NVIDIA-Dassault’s Largest Partnership in 25 Years of Collaboration

  • NVIDIA and Dassault Systèmes announce the largest strategic partnership in their 25-year history of collaboration.
  • Aim to expand design and manufacturing processes by 100-1000 times with physics-based AI and Virtual Twin.
  • AI factories to be deployed across 3 continents, providing industrial AI to 45 million users.

What Happened?

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Dassault Systèmes CEO Pascal Daloz announced their largest partnership ever at 3DEXPERIENCE World in Houston on February 3, 2026.[NVIDIA Blog] The two companies have been collaborating for over 25 years, but this announcement marks the first time NVIDIA’s accelerated computing and AI libraries will be fully integrated with Dassault’s Virtual Twin platform.

Huang said, “AI will become infrastructure, like water, electricity, and the internet,” and “Engineers will be able to work at scales 100x, 1000x, and ultimately a million times larger.”[NVIDIA Blog] He added that engineers will have teams of AI companions.

The core of this partnership is Industry World Models. AI systems validated by the laws of physics simulate products, factories, and even biological systems before they are actually built. NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and Nemotron open models will be integrated into Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform, allowing AI agents called Virtual Companions to support design in real-time.[Dassault Systèmes]

Why Is It Important?

Frankly, this is not just a partnership announcement. It’s a move that could change the landscape of industrial AI.

Virtual Twin is a more advanced concept than the traditional Digital Twin. While Digital Twin is a static 3D replica, Virtual Twin simulates real-time behavior and evolution. This means you can design not only the geometric shape of a product but also how it works at the same time.

Personally, I think the real significance of this partnership lies in the concept of “AI companions.” Instead of an engineer running CAD alone, AI simulates and suggests thousands of design options in real-time. This allows for exploring a much wider design space in the early stages of design.

There have been similar attempts already. Siemens and NVIDIA also announced an Industrial AI Operating System at CES 2026, and PepsiCo achieved a 20% improvement in throughput with an AI digital twin in its factory.[NVIDIA Newsroom] However, Dassault has a massive installed base of 45 million users and 400,000 customers. The impact will be different when NVIDIA AI is integrated into a platform of this scale.

What Happens Next?

Dassault’s OUTSCALE brand will deploy AI factories across 3 continents. This structure operates industrial AI models while ensuring data sovereignty and privacy.

But we’ll have to see how much of this actually comes to fruition. “1 million times expansion” is a vision, not an immediate reality. The important thing is whether existing 3DEXPERIENCE users can use this feature without additional cost, or whether a new license is required. Pricing policies have not yet been announced.

The theme of the 3DEXPERIENCE User Conference in Boston in March 2026 is “AI-Powered Virtual Twin Experiences.”[Dassault Systèmes] A more specific roadmap is expected to be revealed then.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: What is the difference between Virtual Twin and Digital Twin?

A: Digital Twin is a static 3D replica of a physical product. Virtual Twin includes real-time behavior simulation and evolution over time. It can simulate and predict not only the shape of the product but also how it works and its entire life cycle, allowing for more optimization in the design phase.

Q: How will this partnership affect existing 3DEXPERIENCE users?

A: When NVIDIA’s AI libraries and Nemotron models are integrated into the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, users will be able to receive real-time design support from AI companions. However, specific pricing policies and compatibility with existing licenses have not yet been announced, so more information is expected to be released at the March User Conference.

Q: Didn’t NVIDIA announce a similar partnership with Siemens?

A: That’s right. NVIDIA announced an Industrial AI Operating System partnership with Siemens at CES 2026. Siemens has strengths in manufacturing automation and factory systems, while Dassault has strengths in product design and PLM. From NVIDIA’s perspective, both partnerships are strategies to expand the Omniverse ecosystem and are more complementary than competitive.

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