SoftBank takes over the ABB robotics. nipponese giant moves to marketplace “physical AI”.

Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group announced a spectacular takeover on Wednesday, October 8. For $4.4 billion, the company will buy the full robotics department from the Swiss-Swedish ABB company. This transaction is simply a key component of the fresh SoftBank founder strategy, Masayoshi Son, which focuses on the improvement of “physical artificial intelligence” – i.e. autonomous machines capable of perception, explanation and action in the real world.

Takeover Details

SoftBank acquires 100% stake in ABB Robotics through a recently formed holding company. The transaction to be completed in mid-2026 is inactive pending the approval of regulators in the EU, the USA and China.

For SoftBank, this is simply a strategical decision that aims to consolidate and strengthen its global robotics portfolio. nipponese giant already owns or key investor in companies specified as SoftBank Robotics, Berkshire Grey (magazine automation) or AutoStore (robot retention systems). The acquisition of ABB Robotics, 1 of the “great four” planet manufacturers of industrial robots, is intended to let SoftBank to make a powerful ecosystem that will combine robotics with the latest developments in the AI field.

“With ABB Robotics, we will unite world-class technology and talents under our common imagination of the combination of Artificial Superintelligent and Robotics,” said Masayoshi boy in a statement.

The large 4 and the fresh Age in Robotics

The industrial robot marketplace has been dominated by 4 major players for years:

• Fanuc (Japan)
• Yaskawa Electric (Japan)
• KUKA (Germany)
• ABB (Switzerland/Sweden)

The acquisition of ABB by SoftBank is further evidence of profound changes in the industry. It is worth reminding that German KUKA already in 2016 it was taken over by the Chinese company Midea Group. Now that ABB is in the hands of a nipponese technological giant, the arrangement of forces in the robotics marketplace is further shuffled.

For ABB, this transaction is the culmination of the restructuring process. In April, the company announced the separation of robotics department and its introduction to the stock market. The sale of SoftBank is intended to supply the unit with a “perfect fresh home”, combining the industrial know-how of ABB with powerful SoftBank capabilities in the field of AI and computing power (e.g. within the framework of the AI “Stargate” infrastructure task in the US).

Conclusions for European robotics: Heritage sales and motivation

The acquisition of the ABB robotics department by SoftBank is simply a symbolic and strategical event that sheds light on Europe's hard position in the global technological race.

1. Sale of European technological heritage: This is the second, after the acquisition of German KUKI by the Chinese Midea, to sale 1 of the pillars of European industrial robotics into the hands of Asian capital. Europe, which was the cradle of the industrial revolution and for decades a leader in automation, gradually loses control of its “crowns”. alternatively of becoming European champions capable of competing on the global AI market, these companies become part of larger Asian technology ecosystems.
2. Move the center of gravity from hardware to software and AI: The transaction shows that the future of robotics is no longer just in precise mechanics and engineering (hardware), in which Europe was the master. The key to dominance is software, especially artificial intelligence, which gives robots autonomy. SoftBank does not buy ABB for the robots themselves, but to combine them with its powerful AI infrastructure. Europe, despite strong investigation centres, has difficulty scaling commercial AI applications, as the giants from the US and Asia do.
3. No European “technology giants”: Europe lacks companies with the scale and ambition of SoftBank, Google or Chinese Tencent – conglomerates capable of carrying out multi-billion-dollar acquisitions and integrating various areas of technology (robotic, AI, cloud, semiconductors) into a single coherent ecosystem. European companies, even very innovative ones, frequently operate in narrower niches and become an attractive mark to take over alternatively than a receiving party.
4. Wake up and last chance: The sale of ABB may be painful for Europe, but a request for motivation. It shows that without brave pan-European investments in artificial intelligence and the creation of its own competitive technological ecosystems, the continent risks demoting to the function of a sub-supplier of advanced equipment for Asian and American leaders of the AI era.

The conclusions are clear: Europe must act rapidly and decisively if it does not want its industrial heritage to become only part of past and the future was written in Tokyo, Beijing and Silicon Valley.

Source:

• Nikkei Asia: “SoftBank to buy ABB’s robotics unit for $5.4bn in ‘physical AI’ push’;
• Financial Times;
• Reuters;
• Official press releases SoftBank Group and ABB;

Leszek B. Glass

Email: [email protected]

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