SoftBank and ABB confirm China prohibited SoftBank's ABB Robotics China acquisition
Updates
- SoftBank (Nov. 6) and ABB (Nov. 5) publicly confirmed that China's foreign-investment security review office prohibited SoftBank's acquisition of ABB's robotics business in China on Nov. 4. Both say they are still working constructively on the wider transaction; no carve-out or termination announced.
SoftBank Group confirmed on November 6, 2026 that on November 4 it received notice from China's Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review prohibiting SoftBank's acquisition of ABB's robotics business in China. ABB issued a matching confirmation on November 5 after SoftBank informed it of the decision. Both companies say they remain in close dialogue and are "working constructively on the transaction."
Source: SoftBank Group press release (Nov. 6, 2026)
The wider deal, announced October 8, 2025, values ABB's robotics division at about $5.375 billion enterprise value and is still subject to regulatory approvals. SoftBank does not say whether non-China parts can close separately, or whether it will restructure or abandon the purchase. The Financial Times had earlier reported the block; Servospace's prior story relied on that account before SoftBank and ABB spoke.
Servospace take: confirmation removes the verification gap. The open question is structural—carve-out, renegotiation, or walk-away—not whether Beijing objected to SoftBank owning ABB Robotics in China.
More on robot business and funding.
Sources
- SoftBank Group press release (Nov. 6, 2026)
- ABB: Update on divestment of ABB Robotics (Nov. 5, 2026)
- The Robot Report (Nov. 5, 2026; ABB confirmed)
- Investing.com (citing FT)
- The Standard (HK, citing FT / Reuters)
- Financial Times
- ABB: SoftBank deal announcement (Oct 8, 2025)
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Summarized by Servospace from the sources above, drafted with AI help and checked against those sources before publishing. Claims are the companies' or outlets' unless we say otherwise. How we work.