Saint-Gobain signs AI and digital framework agreement with Microsoft

Saint-Gobain has signed a framework agreement with Microsoft focused on two key objectives:

• Firstly, Saint-Gobain will leverage Microsoft’s digital and AI solutions to enhance its growth and productivity, reinvent customer experiences and pursue net-zero innovation.

The collaboration will combine Saint-Gobain’s operational expertise with Microsoft’s digital capabilities to continue to reduce the Group’s CO₂ emissions and energy consumption across its manufacturing facilities. It will also support the development of next-generation sustainable materials to further elevate Saint-Gobain’s complete offer for the residential, nonresidential and infrastructure markets.

• Secondly, the agreement will explore how Saint-Gobain can help Microsoft accelerate the build out of its data center footprint using the Group’s integrated solutions which provide tailored benefits: construction speed, safety and resilience, performance certifications and reduction of the carbon footprint.

Saint-Gobain offers bespoke solutions for data centers, which include prefabricated sandwich panels, easy-to-install structural grids for ceilings to accommodate large diameter cables, antistatic screed solutions and coatings for floorings, fire-rated glazing and insulation, highperformance polymer tubes to cool processing units, certifications and warranties, low-carbon concrete admixtures and low-carbon glass. Saint-Gobain is well positioned to capture the market growth in data centers and already has a strong pipeline with 1,085 projects in 32 countries at the specification stage, almost a two-fold increase compared to last year. The Group manages its key accounts with global specification and local delivery. More details on Saint-Gobain’s data center offer can be found here: https://www.saint-gobain.com/sites/saint-gobain.com/files/media/document/data-centersolutions-by-saint-gobain.pdf.

Ursula Soritsch-Renier, Chief Digital and Information Officer of Saint-Gobain, commented: “This framework agreement with Microsoft reflects our ambition to accelerate Saint-Gobain’s transformation through digital and AI technologies while strengthening our leadership in sustainable construction. By combining our expertise in advanced materials with Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities, we aim to deliver innovative solutions for our customers and support the development of next-generation, low-carbon infrastructure.”

Declan McNulty, Vice President, Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation Global Contract Management, commented: “Saint-Gobain’s longstanding commitment to sustainable innovation aligns closely with our focus on responsible growth. We look forward to exploring how SaintGobain’s sustainable products and solutions can support our future initiatives and help us deliver resilient, efficient, and lower-impact infrastructure at scale”.

Saint-Gobain is already a leader on AI in the construction sector. Combined with the Group’s vast proprietary database, AI provides a competitive advantage in terms of optimizing sales effectiveness, R&D, manufacturing and business processes:

• Enhanced commercial effectiveness to accelerate growth:
  o Dramatically faster customized quotes to drive increased share of wallet and outperformance. These solutions are already used on a daily basis in 250 of our building materials distribution outlets in France;
  o Tender analysis enabling sales teams to increase their conversion ratio by 10%;
  o AI-powered augmented sales program aimed at enhancing product expertise and accelerating cross-selling.
• Accelerated innovation, material substitution and less laboratory testing in R&D: ability to accelerate the time to market of certain new formulations by up to 40%.
• Augmented World Class Manufacturing processes and supply chain optimization.
• Efficiency and time saving on business processes.