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Robotics — Web news discovery·· 5 days agoSignalEditorial score75

China blocks SoftBank's $5.4 billion takeover of ABB's robotics division

China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4 billion takeover of ABB’s robotics division, FT reports

Summary

According to a Financial Times report cited by Reuters, China has blocked SoftBank's acquisition of ABB's robotics segment. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) rejected the deal due to national security concerns over transferring robotics data overseas for AI training. This decision impacts ABB, whose largest market is China, representing around 30% of its robots business. The report notes that SoftBank had expected approval until last week, but the NDRC's review process flagged risks related to data usage by OpenAI models.

Source: Robotics — Web news discovery · Read original article ↗

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What the source reports

Publisher-reported claims, with original evidence. These results have not been independently verified by RoboSignal.

Reported numbers

  • percent

    ≈30

    View original evidence
    ETA.O) to unwind its $2 billion-plus acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, as Beijing tightens scrutiny of US investment in domestic startups developing frontier technologies. • China is ABB's biggest robots market, representing around 30% of its robots business. ABB operates around 30 local companies in China with about 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities and online and offline channels in
    Open source S4
  • robots

    ≈15,000

    View original evidence
    ETA.O) to unwind its $2 billion-plus acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, as Beijing tightens scrutiny of US investment in domestic startups developing frontier technologies. • China is ABB's biggest robots market, representing around 30% of its robots business. ABB operates around 30 local companies in China with about 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities and online and offline channels in
    Open source S4
  • percent

    ≈5

    View original evidence
    report added. • SoftBank shares, already down about 5% in Tokyo, were little changed after the FT report. • Reuters could not immediately verify the report. SoftBank declined to comment. ABB did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. China's NDRC could not be reached. (Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Anton Bridge in Tokyo and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Jochelle Mendonca an
    Open source S6
  • cities

    130

    View original evidence
    ETA.O) to unwind its $2 billion-plus acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, as Beijing tightens scrutiny of US investment in domestic startups developing frontier technologies. • China is ABB's biggest robots market, representing around 30% of its robots business. ABB operates around 30 local companies in China with about 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities and online and offline channels in
    Open source S4
  • cities

    700

    View original evidence
    nearly 700 cities. According to its website, ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd is home to its global robotics headquarters, as well as an important robotics research and development center and production base for ABB Group. • The NDRC was concerned about robotics data being transferred overseas, where it could be used to train AI models, including those developed by OpenAI, in which SoftBank is a major investor, the FT
    Open source S5
  • paper: not_reported
Source excerpts and review record

Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.

China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4 billion takeover of ABB’s robotics division, FT reports

Open source S1

Nov 5 (Reuters) - China has told Japanese investor SoftBank it will not allow the $5.4 billion acquisition of the robotics segment of Swiss engineering group ABB to go ahead, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. Here are some details: • China's state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), would block the deal, the report said. • SoftBank h

Open source S2

ETA.O) to unwind its $2 billion-plus acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, as Beijing tightens scrutiny of US investment in domestic startups developing frontier technologies. • China is ABB's biggest robots market, representing around 30% of its robots business. ABB operates around 30 local companies in China with about 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities and online and offline channels in

Open source S4

ad agreed to buy ABB's robotics business in October last year, as CEO Masayoshi Son sought to establish SoftBank as a core player in the development of artificial intelligence. • SoftBank had expected the deal to be approved until last week, the newspaper said. • The NDRC reviews foreign investment in the country that might have national security implications. Earlier this year, the NDRC ordered US tech giant Meta (M

Open source S3

report added. • SoftBank shares, already down about 5% in Tokyo, were little changed after the FT report. • Reuters could not immediately verify the report. SoftBank declined to comment. ABB did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. China's NDRC could not be reached. (Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Anton Bridge in Tokyo and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Jochelle Mendonca an

Open source S6

nearly 700 cities. According to its website, ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd is home to its global robotics headquarters, as well as an important robotics research and development center and production base for ABB Group. • The NDRC was concerned about robotics data being transferred overseas, where it could be used to train AI models, including those developed by OpenAI, in which SoftBank is a major investor, the FT

Open source S5

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