SoftBank Acquires ABB Robotics: Death Knell or Lifeline for an Industry in Decline?

In April, ABB announced the spin-off of ABB Robotics, creating an independent entity focused solely on robotic automation. The move was widely viewed as an effort to isolate the division’s slowing profitability and uncertain long-term trajectory from ABB’s stronger industrial automation and electrification businesses, while granting the new company more strategic and financial flexibility. The subsequent acquisition by SoftBank blindsided much of the robotics community, provoking a mix of dismay and cautious optimism.

ABB Robotics now joins SoftBank Robotics’ portfolio, which includes Pepper, one of the earliest full-scale commercial humanoids; NAO, a long-standing research and education robot; and Whiz, an autonomous cleaning robot. SoftBank also holds a 40% stake in AutoStore, 20% in Boston Dynamics, and has invested in Gausium, Keenon Robotics, Agile Robots, and Skild AI—indicating a renewed push to unify service, logistics, and industrial robotics under a broader Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven strategy.

With this transaction, none of the traditional “Big Four” robotics Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) (KUKA, FANUC, ABB, and Yaskawa) remain under European ownership. KUKA’s 2017 acquisition by China’s Midea Group first signaled this global rebalancing; SoftBank’s purchase cements it.

Chinese robotics vendors—partly insulated from market pressures through government subsidies—now dominate the global robotics landscape. Industrial robot suppliers such as ESTUN, Step Electric, Siasun, and Guangdong Topstar, alongside collaborative robot makers like Dobot, AUBO, and JAKA Robotics, offer systems at half, or even a third, of the price of traditional Western vendors. Revenue among established players have been in decline for several years; a brief reprieve was offered in 2022 when a post-pandemic recovery and renewed consumer confidence drove uptake.

The Big Four robotics companies continue to operate largely on the strength of their reputations, long-standing customer relationships, and existing service contracts. Industrial robots (particularly articulated arms) remain concentrated in automotive manufacturing, with electronics production a distant second (using SCARA and Delta robots). As Chinese manufacturing dominance expands, especially in automotive, procurement for new robotic deployments is increasingly concentrated within China. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reported nearly 300,000 robot installations in China in 2024, with domestic manufacturers surpassing incumbents for the first time.

Western vendors are struggling to match the low costs and rapid integration support offered by their Chinese counterparts. Many System Integrators (SIs) in mature markets have become slow, overextended, and reliant on third-party, international service centers, leading to prolonged installation cycles. By contrast, Chinese vendors employ streamlined, well-resourced integration models that shorten time-to-value and enhance customer retention.

To survive, established vendors must pivot toward emerging verticals such as logistics, retail, recycling, medical robotics, and specialized manufacturing; fields where “Physical AI” technologies can create differentiation. Although ABB’s offerings—particularly the OmniCore controller, the RobotStudio platform, and a new initiative to create Autonomous Versatile Robotics, starting with OmniCore EyeMotion—represent a strong embodied-AI framework, the retrofit potential for AI within existing industrial settings remains limited, as most robot cells already perform precisely as designed, with minimal room for further optimization.

SoftBank, therefore, inherits the same challenge faced by every major robotics company today—finding meaningful growth in greenfield markets, rather than competing in saturated, margin-compressed industrial segments.

Yaskawa, with MOTOMAN NEXT, intends to bridge the gap between traditional Operational Technology (OT) and software engineer-oriented Information Technology (IT). Such a strategy opens industrial automation to a new workforce of graduates, while creating synergies between traditional hardware and innovative methodologies such as the Robot Operating System (ROS), reinforcement learning frameworks, and OpenCV—critical technologies for enabling Physical AI. NVIDIA spearheads a similar, unifying, approach to automation with its Jetson and Isaac platforms. Increasing accessibility will enable stakeholders to future-proof their offerings.

For SoftBank, success will hinge on integration, rather than ownership. ABB Robotics offers strong engineering credibility, a mature global support network, and deep industrial relationships—resources SoftBank’s existing robotics portfolio lacks. The immediate priority should be to align ABB’s industrial platforms with SoftBank’s AI ecosystem, particularly its investments in generative, embodied, and edge AI. Reposition ABB Robotics from a legacy hardware brand to the industrial backbone for an intelligent robotics ecosystem spanning service, logistics, and manufacturing applications. Investment in modularity, interoperability, and cloud-based “Robotics-as-a-Service” models will be essential to rejuvenate growth.

For incumbent OEMs, the acquisition is a signal to tighten relationships with SIs and offer greater commercial and technical flexibility. Integrators increasingly seek platforms that are easy to configure, support, and scale—qualities historically missing from traditional industrial robotics. Vendors can entice SIs by opening Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), simplifying digital twins and simulation tools, and providing revenue-sharing or co-marketing models that reduce deployment friction. The goal should be to make integration faster, cheaper, and more predictable.

For SIs themselves, differentiation will come from domain expertise and AI fluency, rather than hardware alone. By cultivating partnerships across AI software, vision, and motion-planning vendors, and aligning with OEMs that prioritize open architecture, SIs can reduce implementation risk and capture greater value from post-installation analytics and lifecycle services.

If these groups coordinate, SoftBank’s acquisition could catalyze, not cannibalize, a new era of collaborative robotics and embodied AI ecosystems.