Davos 2026 | Shereen Bhan In Conversation with Morten Wierod, President & CEO, ABB | WEF

Yeah. I like music. I think, being asked how the world looks like, I used the REM song: It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine. And I do feel fine.

Yeah, absolutely. It's a bit strange to think about it. It's six years since COVID, but we still talk about it. It's 2020... now 2026. And we have so many things every year when we look back, you say 'Oh, that was a strange year.' But I don't think 2026 will be any different. But we get used to it, so this is kind of the new normal. We are good at crisis management at ABB, the company I run, but I think in general, everybody — governments, our customers — we get on with what we control. That's the main part. You cannot sit and wait for things to get calm, then you never get anything done. You just need to get on with it.

First of all, we're going into the year with the largest order book we ever had in the company, because the trend of electrification and automation is really gaining momentum, and I think it will continue gaining that momentum in the coming years. So this is the electrification of everything. It's not like a little glimpse; it will take even up to 2050 at least, because grids are underinvested and customers want to go with more automation and more electrification because it's not only more sustainable but also much more productive and competitive. There are some great examples, for instance in India, where we are helping some of our large customers in steel production. How do they get more competitive? Go from a coal base to an electric furnace in their production process. That's how you can remain competitive in the Indian market, also fighting with imports of cheap steel from China. So this is one way of dealing with competitiveness. At the same time, a byproduct is that it also reduces emissions, which in my book is a very positive thing. So it's a win-win, and that's why our business is really booming these days, because we help our customers become leaner, more productive, and cleaner, reduce their emissions. When those go hand in hand, it's an easy equation. You don't need to choose one or the other; you get both.

If you look into the market of electrification, especially, it is booming and it's going to continue to do so because we need more energy. We talked earlier about energy transition, and I think India as one example has been really driving that energy transition. A lot of the new energy coming online is renewable, solar and wind especially; on the solar side, India has done an amazing job. But it's not really an energy transition if you look at the global scale: since 2019, we are using the same amount of electricity generated from coal, gas, and oil as we did in 2019. So the energy transition hasn't even started. It has all gone into energy expansion. That means we need more energy. People are getting out of poverty, getting better quality of life. What do you do? You get your own air conditioning unit. All of this takes more energy. And this is the same all over the globe. In addition, you have more consumption, especially all the data centers being built, which also take up a few percent more of electricity consumption. That all puts more stress and pressure on the grid, which for us is a good thing because that's our business. We are helping utilities get more power online and getting that grid reliability, because we see also today, especially here in Europe, that grid reliability and grid security have become a security topic. Having a very strong and resilient grid is kind of the backbone of every society. You can ask people from Spain who had the whole country — 60 million people — without electricity for eight hours. It was not a pleasant experience. So these are some of the trends where you see the importance of electricity and the importance of the grid. That's why investments are coming. So I'm very optimistic for 2026 from an ABB point of view.

We can also use automation in the electricity grid — what we call grid automation — which is also how we use energy. It's not just getting more and more; it's to use it at the right time. Think about traffic: there are not really enough cars in the world that we should have traffic jams, but it's because we all want to go at the same time. That's the same with electricity. So we can use automation in our grids and in our buildings — energy management and grid automation are about how to balance loads so that we don't need to heat the hot water at the same time we prepare dinner and wash clothes. That also goes for industries. We can balance out, and this is where automation is needed to use electricity smarter, both saving energy and balancing it so that we don't put more stress on the grid and our networks than needed. Automation plays a key role to reduce some of that stress that so many countries experience today, where grid stability leads to big losses in production. That's again one thing we help our customers to avoid.

Yes, it will. With ABB now, as you say, very focused on electrification and automation, those things often go hand in hand. Therefore, we look at what are adjacencies that can make that offering even stronger. That's where acquisitions come in, especially bolt-ons which are kind of nice adjacencies to what we do already, or that can strengthen our technology or market access in some places. So we are actively looking into new M&A opportunities, both small, midsize, but also some larger ones. It's really all over the world. India as well — where growth is happening, that's where we want to invest. That drives both organic growth, meaning what we do in our own capacity. Right now, I feel that India for our operations is a bit of a building site, because it seems like every factory and every campus we have is expanding, building new facilities. We have had such a great story in India over the last years, and also we look ahead to 2030 and even past that; we are very optimistic about the Indian economy. We have a strong team there who is able to serve our customers well, so we need more capacity. In addition, we think that could also be used as an export hub out of India to serve many neighboring markets but also outside the region. That's why we are expanding and doubling down on India, both with our own organic investment — more technology, more R&D, more manufacturing — but also we are looking at companies that would be a good fit with the ABB offering and culture. We are working on that in India, but also everywhere where there is growth, we are open to do that.

I think the main part, which I always stress in every market where we operate: we need to be strong at home before you're also strong, because if you win at home, you can win outside. It's a bit the Frank Sinatra song: if you can make it here, you can make it everywhere. That's what I tell our team in India. We are doing very well in the domestic market; that has to be the backbone of what we do. But when you get that scale, you can even do more outside India. We are already doing exports today into the Middle East, into Africa, into Latin America, using our Indian facilities. We are looking into how we can do more of that. We have a very competitive cost base in India, and that is an opportunity for us as a global company.

Today it is market number four. My prediction — and I've said this already — you need to aim at the third spot. That is a challenge to the team. I said you should be there at least before 2030. I hope it will be earlier, and the commitment from the team is that it should happen before.

Yeah, I think again I will take my Frank Sinatra: if you can make it here, you make it everywhere. That has to be a strong presence in the local market, which also makes you a very attractive player also outside India.

Thank you very much.