A “true” semantic layer transcends pure technical and business lineage. It requires governed semantic assets: ontologies, metadata, FAIR vocabularies, and GUPRIs. Moving beyond string-based approaches to highly engineered, concept-based models makes data truly AI-ready. Using graphDB for 6+ years, Roche has built a scalable RDF infrastructure transforming data assets into actionable knowledge — showing how semantic connectivity provides the strategic foundation for enterprise-scale intelligence.