Sonepar recently brought together 300 executives and key players from the global electrical industry at the Palais Brongniart in Paris for its Strategic Supplier Summit. During the summit, Philippe Delpech, Sonepar president and CEO, announced $560 million future investments aimed at accelerating the industrialization of artificial intelligence on a global scale.

Through these investments, Sonepar said in the press release that it aims to combine commercial performance and operational excellence in support of its customers’ energy transition. "The real challenge of electrifying the world lies in our collective ability to deliver at scale. This requires high-performing infrastructure, a resilient supply chain, and advanced capabilities in data and artificial intelligence. With these $560 million future investments, we are taking a new step forward in making AI a performance driver that benefits our customers, suppliers, and associates alike," Delpech said in the release.

The company said this AI investment builds on its ”long-standing commitment to transformation,” and that since launching its transformation in 2021, it has committed nearly $4 billion to reshaping its business model, including nearly $3 billion in the modernization and automation of its global supply chain, and $1 billion for its digital transformation, including the development of Spark, its global omnichannel platform.

Sonepar also said in the press release that  artificial intelligence is now at the heart of its operating model. Deployed at scale across the company, Sonepar’s plan is to have AI support team performance and improves customer service through a range of practical applications, including:

Forecasting demand and optimizing inventory to improve product availability in a market where speed of execution is a key differentiator;

Personalizing the customer experience by recommending products tailored to each customer’s actual needs;

Automating administrative and sales-related tasks, such as quotation generation;

Allowing sales teams to focus more on advisory services and customer relationships;

Unlocking the value of global data, particularly to calculate product carbon footprints and advance the sustainability goals of Sonepar and its customers.

Since 2002, Sonepar has organized a Strategic Supplier Summit around every five years. The Group brings together its partners to share its strategic priorities, identify growth opportunities and help shape a common vision. Sonepar designed this Summit as a platform for reflection, dialogue, and collective mobilization across its ecosystem

This year the event also featured global technology and AI leaders, including Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI, and Maurice Lévy, emeritus chairman of Publicis group. Alongside Publicis former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Leta, they joined the panel “AI: Who Will Win the Next Decade?” to examine the economic, technological, and geopolitical shifts likely to shape the years ahead. In addition, Sonepar was proud to have testimonies from Judson Althoff, CEO Microsoft Business; Laurence Parisot, chairwoman at Citi; and Nigel Vaz, CEO at Publicis Sapient.