SAP has replaced some high-cost AI models inside products with cheaper options where performance remained strong, a move Reuters said is expected to help generate more than €2 billion in efficiency gains over two years.
SAP Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam told Reuters the company replaced some of its costliest models in products, including an internal consulting assistant, with lower-cost alternatives that met performance needs. Reuters reported that SAP uses more than 70 models from providers including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, and increasingly selects the least expensive model that can meet a task’s standard.
Lower-cost systems are not expected to shrink the company’s total AI budget. Reuters reported that SAP expects its AI spending to keep rising as adoption grows. The news agency described SAP’s fees as tied to task completion, while the computing cost of generating responses is a separate expense. SAP told Reuters it seeks “healthy margins as scale grows,” rather than an absolute cut in AI expenditure.
Buyer requirements also shape model selection. Asam told Reuters that government agencies and regulated companies increasingly impose restrictions based on a model’s origin, while European customers are looking for local options.
SAP’s third-quarter presentation sets a separate efficiency run-rate goal above €2 billion by the end of 2028. It also reports more than 110,000 Joule Work Desktop users and productivity gains above 20% across central functions, without attributing those figures specifically to model substitutions. The Reuters forecast covers the next two years, while SAP’s stated target uses a run-rate measure through 2028.
SAP lists its Q4 and FY 2026 results for Jan. 28, 2027, at midnight ET (05:00 UTC).
