China blocks SoftBank, ABB robotics deal
China blocks SoftBank, ABB robotics deal
SoftBank Group's proposed $5.4 billion deal to acquire ABB's industrial robot business has been blocked by Chinese regulators, citing supply chain security and technology transfer concerns. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) prohibited the transaction after reviewing it for foreign investment security, despite earlier approval from competition regulators in February 2026. SoftBank had announced the agreement in October 2025 with an expected closing in mid-to-late 2026 as part of its strategy to expand its AI robotics portfolio. ABB manufactures around 90% of its robots in China, employing approximately 12,700 people there. The deal's failure marks a significant setback for SoftBank's ambitions in physical AI and robotics. Sources suggest that regulators may request a spin-off of certain business parts before reconsidering the transaction.
Source: Robotics — Web news discovery · Read original article ↗
Loading article text…
What the source reports
Publisher-reported claims, with original evidence. These results have not been independently verified by RoboSignal.
Reported numbers
percent
≈90
View original evidence
believed the deal would be cleared by the NDRC, despite it being subject to a foreign investment security review. It was cleared by China’s competition regulators in February, however concerns were raised about the transfer of technology developed in China to a Japanese company. ABB’s robotics unit manufactures around 90% of its robots in China, in what is the company’s biggest market. The European company counts ar
Open source S4
- paper: not_reported
Source excerpts and review record
Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.
SoftBank Group’s proposed $5.4 billion deal to acquire ABB’s industrial robot business has been blocked by Chinese regulators, in a major blow to the Japanese company’s well-publicised ambitions around physical AI. ABB stated it had been informed by SoftBank that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which is tasked with ensuring supply chain security and stability, had prohibited the deal. SoftB
Open source S2
believed the deal would be cleared by the NDRC, despite it being subject to a foreign investment security review. It was cleared by China’s competition regulators in February, however concerns were raised about the transfer of technology developed in China to a Japanese company. ABB’s robotics unit manufactures around 90% of its robots in China, in what is the company’s biggest market. The European company counts ar
Open source S4
Source：Robotics — Web news discovery · mobileworldlive.com