Establishes industry leading sovereign Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service, built on the Cognizant® Intelligence SpineUnifies Cognizant’s engineering, AI, industry capabilities for Physical AI across eight core verticals
TEANECK, N.J., June 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today launched an industry leading sovereign Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service, an integrated capability that moves autonomous systems from experimentation into core enterprise infrastructure. Built on the Cognizant Intelligence Spine, the offering connects disparate physical systems, including industrial sensors, IoT devices, factory automation and energy infrastructure, into a single coherent intelligence fabric, helping enterprises scale Physical AI across their operations.
Physical AI brings advanced multimodal intelligence, including vision, sensing, positioning and low-latency communication, into the operating layers of a business, allowing enterprises to direct physical action with greater visibility and control. After two decades in which industrialization centered on software, autonomous systems are now expanding into factories, warehouses, agriculture, healthcare and mobility, opening what the Grand View Research has estimated to be close to a trillion-dollar opportunity across service and utility robotics, autonomous vehicles and humanoid systems by 2033.
“In some ways, this is the iPhone moment for robotics and Physical AI,” said Ravi Kumar S, CEO, Cognizant. “Advanced vision sensors, precise positioning, low-latency secure communication and new multimodal AI innovations are the constituents that bring AI into the physical world. Over the next few years, autonomous systems are expected to move from experiments to infrastructure. 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. The enterprises we serve are at an inflection point, and we have built the cognitive foundation they need to move forward.”
The shift is documented in Cognizant’s New Work, New World 2026 study, which found that AI exposure in physical work has accelerated faster than long-range forecasts anticipated. In transportation, AI exposure climbed from 6% to 25%, and in construction it rose from 4% to 12%. The study also found that the most human-centered parts of physical work now have meaningful potential for digital enhancement, reinforcing the case for embedding AI directly into operational layers rather than leaving it confined to digital systems.
“Engineering and AI capabilities are distributed across companies and industries, and the opportunity in front of us is pervasive,” said Vijay Narayan, Cognizant’s newly appointed Global Head for Physical AI, who also leads the company’s Manufacturing, Logistics, Energy and Utilities business. “Bringing them together lets us give clients a coherent way to put AI to work where their operations actually run. The differentiator is not a single model or sensor. It is the discipline to connect what physical systems observe, reason about it, act on it and keep that intelligence owned and governed by the enterprise as an asset that compounds over time. As AI builders, our role is to help embed intelligence into the physical and operating layers of a business, not to leave it confined to digital systems. We believe the companies that will lead the Physical AI era are not the ones waiting for proof-of-concept experiments to mature; they are the ones building governed, scalable systems into their physical and operational cores today, and that is what Cognizant is uniquely positioned to deliver.”
Built on the Cognizant Intelligence Spine
The central challenge in Physical AI is no longer building capable use cases but scaling and connecting them. The proliferation of AI models and equipment makers across the ecosystem leaves enterprises without shared context, a unified reasoning layer, or institutional knowledge they truly own, a condition that leaves an enterprise able to sense everything yet reason about little of it. Cognizant’s thesis is that this is an architectural problem.
The company’s answer is the Cognizant Intelligence Spine, an industry leading sovereign institutional AI platform-as-a-service for Physical AI. The Spine sits between the physical edge, including sensors, cameras, robots and AI twins, and the agentic layer that reasons and acts, connecting physical AI systems with agentic AI into a single institutional mind that is designed for enterprise ownership and governance.
In physical environments, where failure carries safety, compliance or operational consequences rather than just a poor user experience, this governed and sovereign approach is increasingly critical for many enterprise use cases. Cognizant builds the sovereign layer that makes physical AI institutional: unified across every system, connected to agentic AI, governed by the client’s rules and deepening with every decision, so each AI system deployed contributes to a unified institutional intelligence the enterprise owns, governs and expands over time.
Capabilities Across Eight Core Verticals
Cognizant is deploying this capability across sectors, aligning its engineering, AI and industry expertise to deliver production value at-scale. From predictive maintenance and mission-critical system integration to clinical operations and intelligent energy grids, the applications are as diverse as they are impactful. The Cognizant Intelligence Spine is available for enterprise engagements with immediate applicability across eight core verticals including:
Utilities: Grid modernization, wildfire prevention, predictive asset maintenance, distributed energy management.Oil & Gas: Pipeline integrity monitoring, autonomous inspection, safety-system intelligence, environmental compliance.Manufacturing: Autonomous quality control, predictive maintenance, robotic process integration, yield optimization.Logistics: Autonomous warehouse operations, fleet intelligence, last-mile optimization, supply chain visibility.Transportation: Autonomous fleet operations, infrastructure monitoring, port operations, real-time routing intelligence.Aerospace & Defense: Autonomous inspection, mission-critical AI, sovereign systems with full institutional governance.Healthcare & Life Sciences: Autonomous lab operations, clinical robotics, supply chain intelligence, capabilities for regulatory traceability.Consumer, Retail and CPG: Safety-critical monitoring, regulatory compliance automation, process inspection, digital-twin governance.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization’s unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @Cognizant.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied forward-looking statements relating to the opportunity value of Physical AI, the effects and speed of impact of AI on physical work and the economy and Cognizant’s ability to successfully deploy its Physical AI offerings in client environments. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees but include findings of the report discussed above and remain subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Cognizant’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Factors that could cause outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions, the impact of technological development and competition, the competitive and rapidly changing nature of the markets Cognizant and its clients compete in and the other factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law.
For more information, contact:
U.S.
Name Katrina Cheung
Email Katrina.cheung@cognizant.com
Europe / APAC
Name Sarah Douglas
Email sarah.douglas@cognizant.com
India
Name Vipin Nair
Email Vipin.nair@cognizant.com
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SOURCE Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
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