Beijing puts a stop to the sale of ABB's Chinese robotics operations to SoftBank
China's foreign investment watchdog has banned the Chinese part of the 5.4 billion dollar deal, putting the transaction in doubt.
The Chinese office that screens foreign investment for security risks has barred SoftBank from acquiring ABB's robotics business in China. SoftBank received the decision on 4 November and announced it itself on Friday, a day after ABB said it had been informed. The full takeover of the robotics division, agreed in October 2025, carries an enterprise value of about 5.4 billion dollars.
According to Evertiq, ABB Robotics had about 7,000 employees and 2.3 billion dollars in revenue in 2024, roughly 7 percent of the group. The sale replaced an earlier plan to list the division separately. The European Commission had already approved the acquisition, Blue News writes.
Beijing has given no official reasons. According to the Financial Times, as cited by Blue News, Chinese authorities feared that robot production data would go abroad and be used to train AI models, possibly including those of OpenAI, in which SoftBank holds a large stake. SoftBank was reportedly surprised and is examining whether a new attempt is possible. Both companies say they continue to work constructively on the transaction.