Why Cognizant is Prioritising Sovereign Physical AI

Cognizant has announced its own Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service as manufacturers look for secure ways to integrate AI.

Ravi Kumar S, Cognizant’s CEO, says: “As an AI builder, our role is to help embed AI-powered digital intelligence into the physical and operating layers of a business, so enterprises can direct physical action with confidence.”

Half of cloud AI workloads are set to move to sovereign cloud deployments by 2029, Gartner research found in May 2025.

Particularly in sensitive industries like defence, manufacturers are looking to protect their data and systems from cross-border cyberattacks and comply with local regulations.

Cognizant’s Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service

Cognizant says its Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service is designed to “connect physical AI systems with agentic AI into a single institutional mind that is designed for enterprise ownership and governance”.

It can act as a key connector between the AI systems that control the physical components including cameras and factory robots.

Cognizant says that its sovereign AI system will be used across eight core verticals: utilities, oil and gas, logistics, transportation, aerospace and defence, healthcare and life sciences, consumer, retail and CPG and manufacturing.

Its role in manufacturing will focus on autonomous quality control, predictive maintenance, robotic process integration and yield optimisation.

In June 2026, Grand View Research claimed that the market involving autonomous vehicles, humanoid systems and utility robotics will be worth more than a trillion dollars by 2033.

Shifting to sovereign solutions

Sovereign AI allows companies to implement their own AI systems while keeping its data in the region.

Manufacturers focus on lowering the risk of cyberattacks, as it is a major threat within the industry.

Attackers can steal vital information from manufacturers, shut down production lines and impact key supply chains. 

In 2025, Jaguar Land Rover suffered a 24% drop in company revenue during the fiscal second quarter due to cyberattacks.

Companies are now shifting to Sovereign AI infrastructure that can be governed by the company and external access is reduced.

Organisations across the world are shifting to sovereign AI. A 2025 Gartner survey revealed that more than 60% of IT leaders in Western Europe are increasing their use of local cloud providers.

Amazon Web Services launched its AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026 and plans to invest a further €7.8bn (US$8.9bn) before 2040.

Other companies prioritising sovereign AI include Google and Microsoft, with the latter announcing the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud in June 2025.

In April 2026, the United Kingdom Government announced the UK Sovereign AI Fund which saw a £500m (US$675.6m) investment in sovereign AI.