China Blocks SoftBank's Acquisition of ABB's Robotics Business

China has blocked the purchase of the robotics division of the ABB group by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, a $5.4 billion deal. ABB, the Swiss-Swedish multinational, announced this on Thursday, saying that China’s state planning body had told SoftBank the deal would not be allowed.¹²

What the deal involved

SoftBank announced in October 2025 that it would take over ABB’s robotics business. For founder Masayoshi Son, the purchase accelerated the group’s push into artificial intelligence and automation.¹ According to the South China Morning Post, Son had presented robotics as a central component of SoftBank’s AI investment strategy. The newspaper writes that the block curbs these ambitions.² According to The Japan Times, the acquisition was widely expected to support SoftBank’s revenue and profits while the group awaits the boost from OpenAI’s stock market debut.³

The Meta and Manus precedent

The case is the second major deal stopped by China this year. Previously, Meta Platforms had been ordered to unwind its purchase, for more than $2 billion, of the artificial intelligence start-up Manus.² Nikkei Asia describes the halt to SoftBank as Beijing’s latest intervention in the sale of a key technology. The South China Morning Post places it in a period in which Beijing is tightening control over foreign investment in Chinese start-ups developing frontier technologies.¹²

What changes

For SoftBank, the halt hits a sector that Son considers central to its AI strategy and that the group intended to secure a foothold in with this acquisition.¹²

This article was written by artificial intelligence from the sources cited, without human review. Automatic newsroom by Redazia.

Sources

Footnotes

1. China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4bn deal for ABB robotics division, Nikkei Asia ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. China blocks SoftBank’s US$5.4 billion takeover of ABB’s robotics division, South China Morning Post, 2026-11-05 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4 billion ABB robot unit takeover, The Japan Times, 2026-11-05 ↩