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SoftBank to Acquire ABB’s Robotics Division in $5.4 Billion Deal

By  |  October 8, 2025

SoftBank Group has agreed to purchase the robotics arm of Swiss engineering company ABB in a transaction valued at $5.4 billion, according to Reuters. The acquisition, announced Wednesday, underscores the Japanese conglomerate’s continued push to integrate artificial intelligence with robotics—a long-standing ambition of founder and CEO Masayoshi Son.

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    The deal marks another step in SoftBank’s bid to establish itself as a global leader in advanced automation technologies. Per Reuters, Son’s vision to fuse physical machines with AI—what he calls “Physical AI”—has become the company’s next strategic frontier. “SoftBank’s next frontier is Physical AI,” Son said in a statement released with the announcement.

    This acquisition also represents ABB’s shift from a previous plan to spin off and publicly list its robotics and automation unit. ABB’s robotics business, which competes with Japan’s Fanuc and Yaskawa and Germany’s Kuka, has faced years of sluggish sales and diminishing profit margins. The division employs around 7,000 people and generated $2.3 billion in revenue last year—approximately 7% of ABB’s total income, according to Reuters.

    Related: SoftBank’s Vision Fund Unit Acquires 25% Stake in Arm

    Morten Wierod, ABB’s CEO since last year, told Reuters that the company chose to sell rather than proceed with a spin-off after SoftBank’s proposal provided a more immediate financial return. ABB had informed shareholders in April about its plan to separate the robotics business, but the cash deal offered a faster and more certain path amid tough market conditions.

    For SoftBank, this purchase follows a string of high-profile investments and acquisitions aimed at strengthening its foothold in artificial intelligence. The company previously backed robotics firms such as Berkshire Grey and AutoStore, led a massive $40 billion funding round in OpenAI—the developer of ChatGPT—and earlier this year acquired chip designer Ampere for $6.5 billion.

    The sale is also seen as a major milestone for ABB under Wierod’s leadership. According to Reuters, Switzerland’s Zuercher Kantonalbank had expected ABB’s robotics division to be valued at slightly under $4 billion in a potential spin-off, suggesting that the SoftBank deal provided a more favorable outcome for ABB shareholders.

    Source: Reuters