Wie sich unser Unternehmen entwickelt hat

1847: The company’s founding

Werner von Siemens laid the foundation for today’s Siemens AG in 1847 with his design for the pointer telegraph. Together with precision mechanic Johann Georg Halske, he established “Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske” to manufacture his new device. The 10-man company began operation on October 12, 1847, in Berlin.

In 1848, the young company won a contract to build Europe’s first long-distance telegraph line. A first stretch of 670 kilometers from Berlin to Frankfurt goes into service in 1849.

1853–1855: The Russian state telegraph network and the establishment of a subsidiary

In 1853, the Russian government awarded Siemens & Halske a contract to construct the roughly 9,000-kilometer Russian state telegraph network. The company opened a construction office in St. Petersburg, which in 1855 became an independent subsidiary headed by Werner von Siemens’ younger brother, Carl.

Success in Russia generated tremendous momentum for the Berlin-based company. By 1856, Siemens & Halske had 330 employees, two-thirds of whom worked in Russia.

1858: The founding of an independent English subsidiary

Siemens & Halske showed an early interest in tapping new foreign markets. Three years after the company was founded, a sales office opened in England. In 1858, this became an independent company headed by another brother, William Siemens.

Siemens, Halske & Co focused primarily on the submarine cable market. In 1863 it opened its own cable plant in Woolwich.

1858: The company’s first profit-sharing scheme

The desire to motivate and retain highly qualified employees over the long term induced Werner von Siemens to introduce a profit-sharing scheme in 1858. Beginning in 1866, managers also benefited from the company’s business success through stock-taking bonuses.

1866: Werner von Siemens discovers the dynamo-electric principle

In 1866, building on the work of Michael Faraday, Werner von Siemens, discovered the dynamo-electric principle and constructed a dynamo machine, the forerunner of modern, large-scale electric generators. The launch of the dynamo in 1875 marked the start of a new era in electrical engineering. The ability to generate and distribute large amounts of electrical energy gave a major boost to the economy.

The first areas of application were electric lighting and drives technology. In 1879, Siemens & Halske presented the world’s first electric railway powered by an external electricity supply.

From 1868: Construction of the Indo-European Telegraph Line

In 1868, Siemens & Halske embarked on a project that was both technologically and logistically demanding: constructing a telegraph link between Europe and India. Construction of the line, commissioned by the Indo-European Telegraph Company, took place in three phases stretching from the Prussian-Russian border to Tehran.

After only two years, the “Indoline” was inaugurated in April 1870. Instead of 30 days, it now took only 28 minutes to transmit messages from London to Calcutta – a sensation at the time.

From 1872: First company social benefits

In October 1872, the company announced the creation of a pension, widows’ and orphans’ fund. Employees were now entitled to a pension based on their length of service. Few companies at that time offered such benefits.

In 1873, Siemens & Halske introduced the nine-hour workday in Berlin where a 10-hour day was standard. In 1891, it reduced daily working time by another half-hour, to eight-and-a-half hours a day.

1874/75: Laying a transatlantic cable

In the early 1870s, Carl von Siemens advocated the construction of an intercontinental submarine cable to take advantage of a new, lucrative market. To this end, the Direct United States Cable Co. Ltd was founded in 1873. In 1874, the company began laying a cable from Ireland to the North American coast using the Faraday, a purpose-built steamship.

In September 1875, the telegraph line went into operation. By the end of the century, Siemens had laid nine out of the 16 transatlantic cables in existence.

1890: Werner von Siemens transfers the business to his successors

Werner von Siemens retired from active management in 1890 when Siemens & Halske was transformed into a limited partnership. His brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm assumed control over the company’s growing business.

By the time Werner von Siemens died aged 75 on December 6, 1892, the company had 6,500 employees. Siemens and electrical engineering were now synonymous.

1895: Construction of the first public power plant in South Africa

In the mid-1890s, Siemens & Halske began construction of South Africa’s first public power plant. Located in Brakpan, the plant was to supply electricity to the gold mines in the Transvaal and to Johannesburg. In 1897, the three-phase power plant went into operation.

The Siemens & Halske South African Agency, which was founded in 1895, was awarded a large number of contracts as power consumption increased. In 1898, it was transformed into Siemens Limited Johannesburg.

1897: Siemens & Halske becomes a stock corporation

In the 1880s, family-owned Siemens & Halske began to face increased competition in the rapidly growing power-engineering market.

In 1897, five years after the death of Werner von Siemens, the new management transformed Siemens & Halske into a stock corporation in order to expand its capital base and ensure its competitiveness. Initially, the shares remained almost exclusively in the hands of the family.

1903: Founding of Siemens-Schuckertwerke

As part of a new consolidation process, Siemens & Halske’s heavy-current engineering businesses were merged with Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft vorm. Schuckert & Co. (EAG) in March 1903 to form Siemens-Schuckertwerke GmbH.

EAG, a former competitor, brought its production facilities in Nuremberg and all its branch offices and sales offices to the new company.

1905: Centralization of research activities

To secure the company’s solid footing in technology and innovation over the long term, a central laboratory was established in 1905. Headed by chemist Werner Bolton, it was the forerunner of today’s Corporate Technology research department.

After Bolton’s death in 1912, Hans Gerdien developed a concept for a new building to house seven laboratories, each with its own experimental facilities. The new Central Laboratory was inaugurated in 1916.

1914: Siemensstadt, Berlin

Rapid growth at Siemens & Halske made it imperative that the company expands its manufacturing facilities. In 1897, it purchased a largely undeveloped tract of land northwest of Berlin. In the years that followed, operations were gradually consolidated at this location. In 1914, under the name Siemensstadt (Siemens City), the campus was officially recognized as a locality within what was then the city of Spandau.

In addition to industrial facilities, Siemens constructed housing and recreational facilities for its employees at Siemensstadt.

1914–1918: Siemens during World War I

Like many other companies, Siemens was involved in armaments production during World War I. In addition to electrical engineering military equipment the company manufactured goods normally produced by other industries. These ranged from grenade fuses and machine-gun parts to combustion engines for airplanes and automobiles.

From 1909, Siemens designed its own biplanes. Toward the end of the war, the company was also building large airplanes with up to six engines.

1919: The company after the end of World War I

The war and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles had a major impact on Siemens’ development. The company lost almost 40 percent of its capital, its international patent rights and most of its foreign subsidiaries and sales offices.

Management responded by implementing internal restructuring and introducing mechanized mass production. Siemens also limited its activities to electrical engineering. Thanks to this strategy Siemens was once again one of the world’s leading electrical engineering companies by the mid-1920s.

1919: Founding of the lamp manufacturing company OSRAM

Merging their activities in the incandescent lamp business, AEG, Siemens & Halske and the Deutsche Gasglühlicht AG formed the OSRAM GmbH KG on July 1, 1919. Siemens held a 40-percent stake in the joint venture.

In 1924, OSRAM signed an international agreement that in effect divided up the global incandescent lamp market. It also established sales offices worldwide. OSRAM was one of world’s largest lamp manufacturers in the 1930s, with a market share of 70 percent in Germany alone.

1922: The beginnings of the European telephone network

In 1881, Germany’s first telephone exchange went into service in Berlin. By 1900, the first long-distance connections were in operation. The range was limited, however, to about 35 kilometers. Leveraging the insights of physicist Michael Pupin, Siemens researchers substantially improved transmission range and quality.

The German Post Office decided to replace its network of overhead lines with cables that ran underground. In 1912, Siemens & Halske began laying the Rhineland Cable, a line linking the eastern German state of Brandenburg with the industrial cities of the Rhineland via Berlin.

1923/24: International partnerships in Japan and the U.S.

In the interests of long-term competitiveness, Siemens was determined to regain access to international markets. To tap the East Asian market, Siemens-Schuckertwerke established a joint venture with Furukawa of Japan in August 1923. Headquartered in Kawasaki, it operated as Fusi Denki Seizo KK.

In the U.S., Siemens-Schuckertwerke signed an agreement with Westinghouse Electric Company, a global leader in power engineering, that marked the start of a decades-long partnership.

1924: The beginning of assembly line production

In the early 1920s, the company began the shift to assembly line production for domestic appliances and radios. In December 1924, the first vacuum cleaners rolled off the assembly line at the Elektromotorenwerk in Berlin.

The advantages of the new production process were quickly apparent. It reduced storage requirements by 40 percent and cut production time in half. During the 1930s, all suitable production lines throughout the company were gradually converted to assembly lines.

1925–1929: The Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power plant brings electricity to Ireland

At the beginning of the 1920s, large areas of the Irish Free State were without electricity. This situation changed only in 1929, when the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power plant went into operation.

Siemens-Schuckertwerke was commissioned by the Irish government in 1925 to plan and build the three-phase run-of-river power plant on the River Shannon - a massive organizational and technological challenge. This major project considerably enhanced Siemens’ status as an international competitor.

1932: Establishment of Siemens-Reiniger-Werke

In 1924, Siemens acquired a majority stake in the medical technology company Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall, a major competitor. The joint marketing of medical products was highly successful. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, however, the booming healthcare market collapsed.

Siemens decided to bundle its medical engineering activities in Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG (SRW). SRW quickly became the world’s largest company in electro-medical products.

1933–1945: Siemens under the Nazi regime

The German electrical industry profited from the upswing that began soon after the Nazis took power in 1933. The German economy grew noticeably from the mid-1930s until the end of World War II. This growth was based on government armaments contracts. As the leader in the German electrical industry, Siemens saw its revenue continuously increase from 1934 and reach its peak during the war years.

1933-1941: Dealing with dictatorship

Carl Friedrich von Siemens, the youngest son of the company founder, was head of the company from 1933 to 1941. A staunch advocate of democracy he detested the Nazi dictatorship. However, he was responsible for ensuring the company’s well-being and continued existence.

Although the German economy was regulated by the government, the industrial sector was granted a certain amount of leeway. For the most part, Siemens was able to restrict its manufacturing activities in the armaments area to the production of electrical goods and to avoid producing goods outside its traditional portfolio.

Beginning in 1940: Use of forced labor

After the outbreak of hostilities in 1939 the regime’s demand for armaments and the conscription of workers for military service increased rapidly. The use of forced labor was seen as the only way to compensate for labor shortages.

Starting in 1940, Siemens relied increasingly on forced laborers to maintain production levels. These laborers included civilian workers from occupied territories, prisoners of war, Jews, Sinti, Roma and, in the final phases of the war, concentration camp inmates. During the entire period from 1940 to 1945, at least 80,000 forced laborers worked at Siemens.

1945: The situation at war's end

Following Germany’s military, political and economic collapse in April 1945, all Siemens factories in Berlin were closed. Almost half the company’s buildings and production facilities had been destroyed in the war. Siemensstadt was occupied by the Soviet Army and extensive dismantling took place. The Allies confiscated all the company’s tangible assets worldwide. Overall, Siemens forfeited 80 percent of its total worth.

In November 1941, after the death of his uncle Carl Friedrich, Hermann von Siemens was appointed to head the company. He had led Siemens through the last years of the war and was now confronted with the challenge of rebuilding the company and reestablishing it on the global market.

Maintaining a clear position on the company’s history

Siemens acknowledges its past. This goes also for the actions of the company during the time of National Socialism. The fact that Siemens made people work against their will at a time when the company was an integral part of the wartime economy of the National Socialist rogue regime is something that the company’s current top management and employees deeply regret.

Acknowledging this, the company takes responsibility for its history, and is committed to engaging with its past in a variety of ways. In addition to financial aid in the amount of roughly 155 million Euros to former forced laborers, Siemens attaches great importance to a living culture of remembrance and, for example, works closely together with the Ravensbrück memorial site.

1945–1949: Siemens after the end of World War II

One reason why Siemens was able to rebuild so successfully after World War II was that it had decentralized its structure. The management of Siemens-Schuckertwerke was from the summer of 1945 located in Erlangen, where Siemens-Reiniger-Werke produced medical technology equipment. Siemens & Halske group management was located in Munich.

On April 1, 1949, Munich became the headquarters of Siemens & Halske, and Erlangen was the headquarters for Siemens Schuckertwerke. Berlin was a second headquarters city for each.

From 1948 on: International business revives

After 1945, Siemens was again faced with the task of restoring its worldwide standing. After the easing of strict foreign trade restrictions on Germany in 1948, the company gradually returned to its world markets. Between 1952 and 1962, Siemens founded or rebuilt companies, agencies and representative offices in 30 countries. The international focus was Europe and South America.

Siemens soon landed prestigious large contracts that helped significantly to revive its businesses overseas. By fiscal 1956/57, Siemens' export business was contributing about 25 percent of total revenues.

From 1953 on: Involvement in new lines of business

Early in the 1950s, management began investing in promising new lines of business. In 1953, Siemens researchers developed and patented a special technique to make ultrapure silicon for semiconductor applications. The discovery represented a successful entry into microelectronics.

In 1954, Siemens entered the data processing market, producing the 2002 digital computer in 1957. Microelectronics also shaped the evolution of automation technology. In 1959 Siemens introduced SIMATIC, the first transistorized control system, laying the cornerstone for the electronic automation of industry.

1957: Siemens Electrogeräte AG founded

During German reconstruction and the "economic miracle" of the 1950s and 1960s, demand for consumer goods such as washing machines and refrigerators, radios and TV sets soared. In 1957, Siemens decided to pool its home electronics and home appliances operations in a new company, Siemens Electrogeräte AG (SE).

As a result of intensified competition, the two market leaders – Siemens and Bosch – began in 1963 to explore possible avenues for collaboration. Finally, in 1967, they combined their home appliance operations in Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH).

1966: Siemens AG founded

October 1, 1966, marked the founding of Siemens AG, which legally and organizationally absorbed Siemens & Halske AG, Siemens Schuckertwerke AG and Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG. This step completed two processes that had begun after World War II: the rebuilding of the company, and its business consolidation.

The aim of the fundamental reorganization was to establish a more effective and cost-efficient corporate structure. At the heart of the new arrangement were six self-contained and non-overlapping business units.

1969: Corporate Principles and corporate structure of Siemens AG

The founding of Siemens AG in 1966 was the first step in reorganizing the company. As of October 1, 1969, the six largely autonomous operating Groups were: The Components, Data Systems, Power Engineering, Electrical Installations, Telecommunications and the Medical Engineering Group. There were also 14 “offices” in Germany and 38 international companies.

In parallel with the founding of Siemens AG, a new identity was developed. The former company marks were replaced with a single trademark, made up of the previous Siemens word mark plus the S&H monogram that had been in use since 1899.

1969: Employee shares introduced

Enabling staff to share in the company's success had a long tradition at Siemens. Siemens & Halske employees had first benefited from profit-sharing as early as 1858. In 1969, German employees of Siemens AG had their first chance to buy employee shares at a preferred price of 156 German marks – half the trading price. In the first year, Siemens issued more than 135,000 employee shares, with a nominal value of 6.8 million German marks.

The response was so positive that the share plan evolved into an integral part of employee orientation. Today, one out of every three employees is a Siemens shareholder.

From 1960: Systematic build-up of international locations

To achieve its aim of becoming a global player, in 1960 Siemens began setting up production facilities outside Germany. Telecommunications and switchgear technology started production in South Africa in 1961. In India, a large three-phase motor factory began operations in 1962.

By 1985 the company had established a total of 154 production sites in 54 countries. Portions of research and development work was gradually relocated abroad, e.g. to Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia and the USA.

From 1975 on: Setting up the Munich-Perlach site

In the 1970s, the transition from analog to digital technology accelerated rapidly in every field of electrical engineering. Data technology became the company's core line of business. Between 1975 and1984, a new "think tank for data technology" had grown up in Neuperlach, a suburb of Munich, with buildings that housed both the Data Systems Group and the central research unit with some 4,000 employees.

Over time, Perlach became a microelectronics center that attracted engineers and IT technicians from all over the world. It was a site where Siemens achieved important advances in microchip development.

1980: The digital telephone arrives

In 1980, Siemens made its successful debut in digitalizing telephone technology. Its EWSD digital electronic exchange system soon became the world's best-selling landline switching system. 1984 the company introduced the Hicom private communications system – its first proprietary digital telephone set solution. Hicom found rapid acceptance in industry, business and government.

The digitalization of the telephone network represented a fusing of telecommunications with data technology. Higher transfer capacity now made it possible to transmit texts, graphics and data over telephone lines.

1984: The MEGA Project begins

In the mid-1980s, U.S. and Japanese firms dominated the semiconductor industry. Jointly with Philips, and with state support, Siemens aspired to world leadership in chip development within five years. The MEGA Project was launched in 1984, to advance development of 1-Mbit and 4-Mbit chips. Although it was not an economic success, the MEGA Project enabled the company to catch up with its competitors.

In 1987, in cooperation with Toshiba, Siemens was the first Western company to mass-produce 1-Mbit chips. Production of 4-Mbit chips would start two years later.

1989: Fundamental organizational reform

1989 was a year of profound change, including at Siemens. With eight lines of business, the company was too sprawling to manage efficiently. A reform was needed. CEO Karlheinz Kaske aimed to improve "mobility, effectiveness and competitiveness," with an organizational structure that took due account of the changing environment.

The eight former business units were rearranged into 15 new, leaner units, two operating Groups with their own legal form, and two independent Divisions. The reorganization laid the groundwork for a corporate structure that would last until 2006.

1990: Acquisition of Nixdorf Computer AG

To grow further in the field of computer technology, Siemens acquired a majority in Nixdorf Computer AG in 1990. The new acquisition was merged with the data and information technology unit to form Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI). SNI became a wholly owned Siemens subsidiary in 1992.

However, the integration proved complex, and a difficult round of restructuring followed. By the mid-1990s, SNI had become the strongest-selling European computer maker but was not a growth driver. In 1998, SNI was fully integrated into Siemens AG.

1998: Buy, cooperate, sell or close – the Ten-Point Program

The Ten-Point Program presented by President and CEO Heinrich von Pierer in 1998 marked a turning point. Siemens had been contending with major difficulties due to factors including the economic crisis in Southeast Asia and the collapse of the semiconductor market.

Following the motto "Buy, cooperate, sell or close", the company embarked on an extensive restructuring, retaining only those activities where Siemens was first or second in the global market. The Program quickly yielded successes. The price of Siemens stock soared, and revenues and profits improved substantially.

2001: Siemens stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Listing Siemens on the NYSE was a key goal of the Ten-Point Program. CEO Heinrich von Pierer called the listing on March 12, 2001 a “high point” in the further expansion of business in the USA.

But the hopes for vigorous upswing in the U.S. market failed to materialize. The listing in New York entailed immense expense, while investors were mainly trading in Germany and via electronic trading platforms. Against expectations, the listing had no impact on the company's strategic focus or presence in the USA. In January 2014, the Managing Board decided to delist the stock in New York, following the example of many competitors.

" height="auto" width="100%" style="display: block" loading="lazy"/>

2005: Megatrends become a business driver

Klaus Kleinfeld took over from Heinrich von Pierer in January 2005. The new CEO viewed energy, infrastructure and healthcare as the three pillars on which the company stood and would grow profitably. The company focused on the three megatrends of the day: the influx of people into cities, the increase in the world's population combined with demographic change, and accelerating climate change.

Siemens aimed to develop innovative solutions, while dealing responsibly with scarce resources and the environment. Another emphasis was efficient, safe transportation, as well as affordable healthcare.

2006: The compliance crisis

In 2006, Siemens fell into one of the most dangerous phases in its entire history: the compliance crisis. An investigation by the Munich public prosecutor's office brought to light a lack of transparency, unclear lines of responsibility, undue influence, and the criminality of some individuals.
A large number of top managers were replaced. Siemens fully cooperated with the authorities and received a relatively mild penalty, though it still came to a record 1.2 billion euros. In December 2008, the court proceedings ended. Siemens set up a system of compliance, which was declared a benchmark for German business in 2011.

Find out more about the Siemens compliance system

2007: Acquisition of UGS Corp.

Siemens is well-positioned today in digitalization thanks to several forward-looking acquisitions in the 2000s. The most important of these was UGS Corp., an American specialist in digital product data management, computer-assisted design and production process simulation.

With UGS, Siemens could now offer hardware, software and support for Siemens’ Digital Factory, all from a single source. Over a decade, Siemens invested some 10 billion US dollars, and strengthened its lead in features for the Digital Factory.

2008: The environmental portfolio is presented

Siemens presented its environmental portfolio in the summer of 2008. This included products, systems, solutions and services for using renewable energy, enhancing energy efficiency, and protecting the environment. President and CEO Peter Löscher spoke of a gigantic opportunity, for Siemens already being a “leading green infrastructure giant” to advance the “green revolution.”

The figures showed Löscher was right. By fiscal 2016, revenues had reached 36 billion euros, and the CO2 reduction had risen to 521 million tons.

2008: A new corporate structure

When Klaus Kleinfeld ordered a change in focus to the megatrends of urbanization, demographic change and climate change in 2005, he gave the company a new orientation that Siemens would incorporate into its organizational structure three years later. The 10 Groups were replaced by three Sectors and 15 Divisions, and the Regions were combined into Clusters.

The three Sectors were Industry, Energy and Healthcare. There were also two cross-Sector business lines: Siemens IT Solutions and Services, and Financial Services. In 2011 a further Sector was added – Infrastructure & Cities – which embraced Mobility, Building Technologies and Power Distribution.

2014: Vision 2020

In July 2013, Joe Kaeser replaced Peter Löscher as President and CEO and set about developing a new corporate concept, appropriately named “Vision 2020.” The plan called for Siemens to focus exclusively on the growth fields of electrification, automation and digitalization.

The Sector structure would be broken up. By 2020, costs were to be cut by a billion euros, underperforming businesses would be put back on their feet, and customer satisfaction would improve. 2016 Siemens announced one of its strongest fiscal years. With the acquisition of Gamesa and Mentor Graphics in 2017, Siemens took a big step closer to implementing its Vision 2020.

2015: Acquisition of Dresser-Rand

In May 2014, the company acquired Rolls Royce's business in aero-derivative gas turbines and compressors. The following year it bought the US company Dresser-Rand, the world's leading provider of compressors, steam and gas turbines, and engines.

These two acquisitions strengthened Siemens' position in the forward-looking fields of electrification, automation and digitalization, and were an ideal addition to the company's own portfolio in the worldwide oil and gas industry and distributed power generation. The headquarters of the Energy unit were relocated to the USA.

2016: next47 is founded

In summer 2016, Siemens launched an innovation unit, “next47,” to pool and advance the new startup operations. The number 47 stands for 1847, the year when Siemens was founded.

With next47 small, agile startups with good ideas could take advantage of the technological and legal expertise, customer base and financial strength of a worldwide corporation. And Siemens acquired immense potential to enhance its innovative strength and thus safeguard its future.

2018: Vision 2020+

A further transformation was initiated in 2018 with Vision 2020+, a successor to Vision 2020. This program targeted accelerated growth and stronger profitability through a simplified, leaner company structure.

In October 2018, the corporate structure was optimized. The former Divisions and Business Units were incorporated into three Operating Companies: Gas and Power, Smart Infrastructures and Digital Industries. Additionally, three Strategic Companies were set up: Siemens Healthineers, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and what is today Siemens Mobility.

2020: The new face of Siemens

The process of change was most evident in the carveout and public listing in March 2018 of Siemens Healthineers, the company’s healthcare business. Preparations for spinning off the company’s energy activities began shortly thereafter. The spin-off was approved in July 2020 and Siemens Energy AG was listed on the stock exchange on September 28, 2020.

Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructures and Mobility now comprised the “new Siemens AG”. Three separately managed companies – Siemens AG, Siemens Energy and Siemens Healthineers – form a powerful ecosystem under one brand.