Siemens NX and Teamcenter data is worth most to AI developers as native NX part files built in history mode, tied to Teamcenter item revisions, release states, BOM baselines and change records for products you own. JT files alone carry geometry and structure without the design history. Mercor names Siemens NX and publishes $45K to $1.3M per company, a published range rather than a closed deal.
- NX parts modeled with history keep the feature sequence; parts edited history-free or imported do not.
- Teamcenter adds release states, baselines, effectivity and variants around the files.
- JT is Siemens' format for viewing, exchange and long-term retention, not for design history.
- Under the Siemens UCA, Siemens acquires no ownership of customer content.
What are Siemens NX and Teamcenter data worth to AI developers?
Siemens NX is on the tool list of Mercor's hardware engineering listing, which says a company earns "$45k–$1.3M" and that the figure "Depends on assembly count and completeness" (Mercor). It is the published range of one buyer program for companies of 20 to 2,000 employees, not a closed deal.
NX and Teamcenter users are often automotive, aerospace and industrial equipment makers, the sectors that listing calls its priority. Their archives tend to be large and long-lived. The work is less about finding data than about separating what the company owns from what customers, partners and export rules control.
Treat this page as general information, not legal advice: your Siemens agreement, your customer contracts and export rules decide what can be shared.
Get a first band from the CAD archive value calculator, then ask Origin to value the Teamcenter data itself.
What Teamcenter holds around your NX files
Teamcenter keeps the product definition and how it evolved. Siemens says it lets teams "Manage the evolution of your BOM with historical configurations and baselines" and "Configure and solve the bill of material using release states and maturity, effectivity and variants" (Siemens). Those records tell an AI developer which design was current, for which product variant, at which date.
| Teamcenter or NX record | What it adds for a buyer | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| NX part files (.prt) built in history mode | The feature sequence behind each shape | History-free or imported parts lack it |
| Item revisions with their datasets | Each released state of a design | Superseded revisions removed by cleanup |
| BOM baselines and historical configurations | How a product structure changed over time | Configurations owned by a customer program |
| Release states, maturity, effectivity, variants | Which design applied to which product and date | Variant rules that reveal customers |
| Change objects and workflow records | Why a revision happened and who approved it | Names of staff and customers in free text |
| JT files generated from NX | Lightweight viewing copies | No design history on their own |
What Teamcenter often lacks: physical test results, CAE runs kept on simulation servers, and supplier quality data. List where those live; the link from a design to its tested outcome raises its value.
NX part history: history mode, history-free edits and imported geometry
NX supports two ways of modeling. Siemens has described its synchronous technology "in the history-free modeling mode" and how it can also be used "in the history-based modeling mode" (Siemens). Parts built in history mode carry the feature list a buyer wants; parts edited history-free carry geometry and fewer steps.
Siemens' own 2026 Designcenter NX guidance shows the gap. Its face-editing commands are "particularly valuable when working with imported geometry or models without feature history" (Siemens). Before counting, sample a few hundred parts and record what share has a full feature history in the Part Navigator. That share matters as much as the raw file count.
JT files: what the neutral format keeps and what it drops
JT is Siemens' published, ISO-standard 3D format, and Siemens notes that "many adopters use JT as a process format in workflows such as data exchange, supplier collaboration and long-term data retention" (Siemens). Many NX sites keep JT copies of everything, so JT is often the easiest set to hand over.
It is also the set with the least design knowledge. A University of Kaiserslautern study of JT hosted on Siemens' site describes the lightweight pipeline as compressed, visualization-oriented geometry with "Negligence of design history and the sum of parametrical content" (Eigner and Gerhardt, 2010). The buyer listing quoted above wants native files with feature trees and rules out sets that are "only exported meshes" (Mercor).
| What you hand over | Feature history | Product structure | Fit for a CAD data license |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native NX .prt files from Teamcenter, all revisions | Yes, for history-mode parts | Yes, with BOM views | What buyers ask for |
| Native NX files, latest revision only | Yes | Partly | Usable, less valuable |
| JT with exact geometry and PMI | No | Yes | A supplement, not the core |
| JT tessellated only, or STL | No | Sometimes | Not a fit |
Teamcenter data export: PLM XML, transfer modes and the briefcase
Siemens documents three ways to move Teamcenter data out with its structure. Each was built for integration or supplier exchange, so the settings decide whether history comes along.
- PLM XML. Siemens calls it "a published schema for PLM data represented in Siemens Digital Industries Software applications", and the SDK "allows developers to work with XML data created by products such as Teamcenter" (Siemens). A buyer's engineers can read the structure without a Teamcenter license.
- Transfer modes (PLM XML and TC XML). Siemens trains administrators on "Transfer Mode objects in the Teamcenter Rich Client", whose components "include Closure Rules, Property Sets, Action Rules, and Filter Rules" (Siemens Xcelerator Academy). The closure rule decides which related objects travel; ask for one that includes all revisions, datasets, BOM views and release statuses.
- Briefcase. Siemens describes exchanging CAD data "with suppliers in a secure container called a briefcase" (Siemens). It suits a scoped evaluation sample for a buyer, not a full archive.
Run any export from a copy of the database restored for the purpose, after the exclusions below are applied, so the production system and its access controls stay untouched.
How to count NX assemblies, parts and revisions in Teamcenter
Ask your Teamcenter administrator for a saved query per object type, run across all revisions rather than the latest only, and export the results to a spreadsheet. Five counts answer a buyer's first questions.
- Top-level assemblies by product line and the year of their first release.
- Parts and drawings, split into history-mode and history-free from your sample.
- Item revisions per assembly, which shows how deep the history runs.
- Change objects linked to the revisions they produced.
- Variants and effectivity ranges for configured products.
Who owns NX and Teamcenter data under the Siemens UCA?
Siemens' Universal Customer Agreement is now at version 1.3: "All PDFs are version 1.3, applicable beginning April 13, 2026." (Siemens). Its section on customer content says "Siemens will not acquire any title to or ownership of Customer Content by virtue of this Agreement." and that the customer "is responsible for the content, management, transfer, use, accuracy, and quality of Customer Content" (Siemens UCA v1.3, read 12 November 2026). Customer content covers what users enter into the offering and the output they generate from it.
That settles the vendor side for most companies. The open question is usually the customer side: automotive and aerospace programs often assign designs, or restrict their use, by contract, and the Mercor listing wants "Designs the company owns, not customer IP" (Mercor). See who owns CAD files made for a client for how those clauses work.
What to exclude from a Teamcenter export first
Build the exclusion list at the project and program level; Teamcenter access rules often already mark the sensitive ones.
- Customer programs: OEM-owned designs, build-to-print parts and anything received from a customer through a briefcase or a Multi-Site exchange.
- Supplier and library content: purchased-part libraries, supplier JT and NX models, standard-part catalogs.
- Export-controlled programs: defense, space and dual-use work. The ITAR and EAR checklist for CAD data walks through the review.
- People: user names on workflows and change objects, and names in drawing title blocks. Replace them before the export; see de-identifying company data.
What AI companies pay for NX and Teamcenter data
No AI company has published the purchase of a Teamcenter database, or a price for one. One buyer program publishes a range.
| Evidence | What it says | What kind of source |
|---|---|---|
| Mercor hardware engineering listing | "$45k–$1.3M" for companies of 20 to 2,000 employees; names Siemens NX among its tools (Mercor) | A buyer program's published range |
| Same listing, priorities | "Automotive, aerospace, robotics and industrial equipment are the priority." | The buyer program's own statement |
A Teamcenter site with history-mode NX assemblies, released baselines and linked change records over several programs is the strong case; a JT-only archive is the weak one. See how the same questions play out for SolidWorks PDM and Creo and Windchill, or read the CAD and engineering data guide.
Does your company hold records like these? See what your data is worth.
Origin Data Partners works with companies that own data and helps get it bought. We are independent of the services on this page, and a buyer may pay us when a deal closes (how Origin is paid). See what your data is worth.
Common questions
What are Siemens NX and Teamcenter data worth to AI companies?
Mercor's hardware engineering listing names Siemens NX and publishes what a company earns: $45K to $1.3M, depending on assembly count and completeness, for companies with 20 to 2,000 employees. That is a buyer program's published range, not a closed deal. History-mode NX assemblies with Teamcenter revisions and change records rank above JT-only archives.
Does a JT export keep the design history of NX parts?
No. JT is Siemens' published format for 3D viewing, data exchange, supplier collaboration and long-term retention. It can carry exact geometry, product structure and PMI, but a study hosted on Siemens' site describes the lightweight pipeline as leaving out design history and parametric content. Keep JT as a supplement to the native NX files.
How do I export data from Teamcenter with its structure and revisions?
Siemens documents PLM XML, a published schema for Teamcenter data, and transfer modes for PLM XML and TC XML whose closure rules decide which related objects are included. Ask your administrator for a transfer mode that includes all revisions, datasets, BOM views and release statuses, and run it on a restored copy.
What is a Teamcenter briefcase and can we use it to share data with a buyer?
A briefcase is a secure container Siemens describes for exchanging CAD data with suppliers, who can work on it offline with a briefcase browser. It fits a scoped sample sent to a buyer for evaluation. For a full archive with history, a PLM XML or TC XML export from a restored copy is the better route.
Does Siemens own our designs stored in Teamcenter or Teamcenter X?
No. Siemens' Universal Customer Agreement, version 1.3 from April 2026, says Siemens will not acquire any title to or ownership of customer content by virtue of the agreement, and the customer is responsible for its content and transfer. Ownership questions usually come from customer contracts instead.
Which NX parts are worth the most in an AI data license?
Parts and assemblies modeled in history mode, because their feature list shows how the design was built. Parts edited history-free or imported from other systems carry geometry with little or no feature history. Sample a few hundred parts, record the share with full history, and report it alongside the file count.
Is Teamcenter a CAD program?
No. Siemens sells Teamcenter as product lifecycle management (PLM) software, while the geometry is modeled in NX. Teamcenter keeps the item revisions, BOM baselines, release states and change records that surround the NX parts. Copying NX files out of a folder therefore misses most of the history; plan the export from Teamcenter itself, as described above.
Sources and further reading
- Mercor Data: Hardware Engineering Company listing
- Siemens: Teamcenter bill of materials management
- Siemens blog: Synchronous Technology in History-Based Models (2009)
- Siemens Designcenter blog: Designcenter NX synchronous modeling (2026)
- Siemens: JT file format
- Eigner and Gerhardt (University of Kaiserslautern): JT, the 3D-lightweight format (2010, hosted by Siemens)
- Siemens: PLM XML
- Siemens Xcelerator Academy: Teamcenter Managing PLMXML/TCXML Transfer Modes
- Siemens white paper: Exchanging design data with suppliers
- Siemens: Universal Customer Agreement (UCA) page
- Siemens Universal Customer Agreement v1.3 (13 April 2026)
- Siemens: Teamcenter PLM software