Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group is acquiring a robotics company as the financial giant identifies physical AI as its next major frontier. SoftBank announced it has purchased the robotics business unit from Zurich, Switzerland-based ABB Group for 5.375 billion dollars. The transaction is pending regulatory approval, and SoftBank anticipates it will be finalized in mid-to-late 2026.
Sami Atiya, the head of the robotics division, will leave ABB Group once the acquisition is complete. ABB’s robotics business employs approximately 7,000 people and sells a diverse range of robots and equipment designed for tasks such as picking, cleaning, and painting. The unit generated 2.3 billion dollars in revenue during 2024, accounting for seven percent of ABB’s total revenue. ABB had previously announced its intention to spin off the robotics group as a separate publicly traded company in April.
SoftBank stated it aims to reignite sales at the robotics spinoff. The division’s 2024 revenue of 2.3 billion dollars was a decrease from the 2.5 billion dollars it earned the previous year.
SoftBank has been expanding its investments in robotics over recent years. The firm has invested in a variety of companies, from more established players like AutoStore to startups such as Skild AI and Agile Robots. SoftBank also launched its own robotics platform, the SoftBank Robotics Group, back in 2014.
Masayoshi Son, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank, stated that the company’s next frontier is physical AI. He said that together with ABB Robotics, they will unite world-class technology and talent under a shared vision to fuse Artificial Super Intelligence and robotics. He believes this will drive a groundbreaking evolution to propel humanity forward.
Robotics is one of four primary focus areas for SoftBank, alongside AI chips, AI data centers, and energy. The company explained that the center of the Information Revolution has evolved from personal computers and the internet to broadband, smartphones, and has now entered a new phase led by artificial intelligence. In this context, SoftBank Group has declared its mission is to realize artificial superintelligence for the advancement of humanity.