en.Wedoany.com Reported - Masayoshi Son, Chairman and President of SoftBank Group Corp., revealed at the annual shareholders' meeting held in Tokyo on June 24, 2026, that for physical AI application scenarios, "mass production of robots has already begun at a certain factory, and an official launch is imminent. I believe everyone will be surprised." He also stated that SoftBank aims to become the "overwhelmingly number one robotics company in the world" by gathering top robotics companies across various vertical fields, and mentioned the plan to complete the acquisition of the robotics business of Swiss industrial giant ABB in 2026.
Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, SoftBank Group is a comprehensive venture capital and technology company with businesses spanning mobile communications, internet services, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The announcement of mass production marks a significant milestone for SoftBank in the robotics sector. Son has previously stated that SoftBank's next strategic frontier is physical AI, and the acquisition of ABB's robotics business aims to achieve "the fusion of super artificial intelligence and robotics technology."
Regarding the acquisition of ABB's robotics business, SoftBank signed an agreement with ABB on October 8, 2025, to acquire ABB's robotics business unit for a total of $5.375 billion. ABB's robotics business is one of the "Big Four" global industrial robot manufacturers, alongside Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric, and KUKA. The business unit currently employs approximately 7,000 people, with sales revenue of $2.3 billion in 2024, accounting for about 7% of ABB Group's total revenue, and an operating EBITA margin of 12.1%. This transaction breaks ABB's original plan to spin off the business for an independent listing and is expected to be completed in mid-to-late 2026.
This acquisition also marks SoftBank's major return to the robotics field after encountering obstacles in the commercialization of the Pepper robot and selling part of its stake in Boston Dynamics. SoftBank acquired Boston Dynamics from Google for $921 million in 2017; in June 2021, Hyundai Motor Group purchased 80% of Boston Dynamics for approximately $880 million, with SoftBank retaining about 20% of the shares. The acquisition of ABB's robotics business reflects SoftBank's long-term strategic layout for the integration of AI and the physical world.
Currently, SoftBank's financial condition is sound. According to the full-year results for fiscal year 2025 disclosed in May 2025, the company's net profit attributable to shareholders reached 550.8 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%, setting a new historical high for annual net profit since the company's founding. The launch of robot mass production and the advancement of the ABB acquisition are important milestones in SoftBank's strategic layout in the field of physical AI, and are expected to reshape the global industrial robot market landscape.
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