ABB robots are located on the production line of the Sony UK Technology Centre in Pencoed, UK.
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SoftBank Group It announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire the robotics division of Swiss engineering firm ABB for $5.4 billion as Japanese companies aim to strengthen their artificial intelligence business.
This transaction requires regulatory approval worldwide; ABB The company is not considering separating its robotics business as an individual listed company in the future.
“SoftBank’s next frontier is physical AI. We will work with ABB Robotics to bring together world-class technology and talent under a common vision of combining artificial superintelligence and robotics to drive groundbreaking evolution that advances humanity,” SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said in a statement.
Artificial super intelligence (ASI) is an AI that is 10,000 times smarter than Son thinks of humans.
Son is trying to put SoftBank at the heart of a potential AI boom through investments and acquisitions in a variety of technology sectors. SoftBank, for example, owns Arm, a chip design company and holds a large stake in Open AI.
SoftBank has already made robot-related investments, including AutoStore Holdings and Agile Robots.
Japanese conglomerates are not new fields in robotics. In 2012, SoftBank acquired a majority stake in a French company called Aldebarin. Two years later, the two companies launched a humanoid robot called Pepper. The bet ultimately failed, but now robotics has resurfaced as a key focus for Japanese major companies.
Morten Wielod, who became CEO of ABB in August 2024, has pushed for a spin-off of the company’s robot division as a strategic measure.
In a statement, ABB said the sale will “create immediate value for ABB shareholders.” The company said it would use the proceeds from the transaction “in line with established capital allocation principles.”
ABB said it expects cash revenue to be around $5.3 billion. The expected separation costs are around $200 million, about half of which are already included in ABB’s 2025 guidance.
