Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on March 19 announced a new memorandum of understanding with ABB to widen their collaboration across IT infrastructure and applications, digital and industrial AI, data centres, and other emerging technologies.
The scope of the agreement is notable because it goes beyond conventional outsourcing. According to TCS, the two companies will work on three broad tracks: modernising ABB’s IT foundation, collaborating on industrial AI and factory modernisation, and exploring AI infrastructure-related opportunities in India. The second track is especially telling: it includes digital twins, vision-based inspection, and OT-IT convergence, all of which point to work that sits at the intersection of enterprise software and shop-floor operations.
ABB’s role in the partnership is equally important, the Swiss industrial group, a global technology leader in electrification and automation, with around 110,000 employees and a history spanning more than 140 years. That gives the agreement a very different weight than a routine vendor contract: it involves an industrial company with deep operational systems and a technology services partner that is pushing harder into AI-led delivery.
TCS, for its part, has been positioning itself as an AI-first services company. In its own corporate profile, it says it aims to become the world’s largest AI-led technology services company and operates across 55 countries with 202 delivery centres. That context matters here because the ABB agreement fits a wider pattern in which large Indian IT firms are using AI, engineering, and infrastructure work to move closer to clients’ core operating systems rather than remaining at the periphery.
Morten Wierod, CEO ABB, said, “Partnering with TCS helps ABB build smarter systems, adapt faster, and scale our innovations globally. India remains an important growth market for us and the renewed partnership will position ABB as one of the key partners for TCS’ ambitious data centre expansion plans.”
K. Krithivasan, MD and CEO, Tata Consultancy Services, said, “This partnership reflects our shared ambition to move beyond incremental transformation and shape the next era of industrial enterprises. By combining ABB’s leadership in electrification and automation with TCS’ technical expertise in AI, data, and engineering, we aim to cocreate intelligent, resilient, and future ready industrial solutions at scale. Together, we are not just modernising the technology landscapes, we are advancing a new model of AI-led industrial innovation that delivers shared value across our global operations.”
