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
China's state planner has prohibited the $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB's robotics segment by Japanese investor SoftBank, citing national security concerns regarding the transfer of robotics data overseas for AI model training. This decision marks the second major foreign investment deal blocked by China this year, following Meta's ordered unwind of its Manus startup acquisition. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) raised specific concerns about data being used to train AI models, including those developed by OpenAI, in which SoftBank is a major investor. ABB shares dropped 1.1% after the announcement, while SoftBank shares fell approximately 6.8%. China remains ABB's largest robotics market, accounting for around 30% of its robot-related business, with operations spanning nearly 130 cities and employing about 15,000 people locally.
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
employees
≈15,000
View original evidence
B and SoftBank are in close dialogue and working on the transaction, ABB said. China is ABB's biggest robotics market, representing around 30% of its robot-related business. ABB operates about 30 local companies in China with around 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities, as well as online and offline channels in nearly 700 cities. According to its website, ABB Engineering (Shanghai) is home to its global robo
Open source S6cities
130
View original evidence
B and SoftBank are in close dialogue and working on the transaction, ABB said. China is ABB's biggest robotics market, representing around 30% of its robot-related business. ABB operates about 30 local companies in China with around 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities, as well as online and offline channels in nearly 700 cities. According to its website, ABB Engineering (Shanghai) is home to its global robo
Open source S6cities
700
View original evidence
B and SoftBank are in close dialogue and working on the transaction, ABB said. China is ABB's biggest robotics market, representing around 30% of its robot-related business. ABB operates about 30 local companies in China with around 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities, as well as online and offline channels in nearly 700 cities. According to its website, ABB Engineering (Shanghai) is home to its global robo
Open source S6
- paper: not_reported
Source excerpts and review record
Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.
B and SoftBank are in close dialogue and working on the transaction, ABB said. China is ABB's biggest robotics market, representing around 30% of its robot-related business. ABB operates about 30 local companies in China with around 15,000 employees located in nearly 130 cities, as well as online and offline channels in nearly 700 cities. According to its website, ABB Engineering (Shanghai) is home to its global robo
Open source S6
it was told last week that China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had prohibited the acquisition, the report said. The NDRC reviews foreign investments that might have national security implications. SoftBank declined to comment. The NDRC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ABB shares were down 1.1% in morning trading after the blocked takeover was made public. The NDRC was conce
Open source S4
tics headquarters and is an important research-and-development center and production base for ABB Group. SoftBank shares were down about 5% before the FT report was published and they ended the day down 6.8%. The blocked ABB deal comes less than a week after SoftBank-backed digital-payments company OPay withdrew a US initial public offering, citing a regulatory inquiry by a foreign jurisdiction it did not identify.
Open source S7
Source：Robotics — Web news discovery · msn.com