SoftBank and ABB Weigh China Carve-Out to Salvage $5.4 Billion Robotics Deal

November 7, 2026

By Bold Voices Business Desk | November 7, 2026

SoftBank Group and ABB are reportedly weighing whether to separate ABB’s China robotics operations from a planned $5.375 billion acquisition, in an effort to keep the wider transaction alive after Chinese authorities prohibited the purchase of the business in China. The potential carve-out is an early-stage option reported by people familiar with the discussions; neither company has announced an agreed restructuring or a new deal structure.

SoftBank confirmed that it received notice on November 4 from China’s foreign investment security review office prohibiting the acquisition of ABB’s robotics business in China. The Japanese investment group said it was discussing the matter closely with ABB and working constructively on the transaction. The authorities have not publicly given a reason for the prohibition.

What a carve-out could involve

Under the reported option, the Chinese operations could be placed in a separately owned entity, leaving the business outside the assets SoftBank seeks to acquire. That could allow the companies to pursue a transfer of the robotics operations in other markets while keeping the China business under different ownership or governance. The precise structure, ownership and operating arrangements have not been disclosed, and talks may not result in a proposal acceptable to regulators or either company.

Separating one country’s activities from a global industrial business is complex. A carve-out may require decisions about factories, employees, intellectual property, customer contracts, research work, software systems and supply relationships. The parties would also need to determine how the China operation could continue to use products, technology or services developed elsewhere, and whether the transferred business would remain commercially viable on a standalone basis.

For the regulator, a formal restructuring would not automatically reverse the prohibition. Any revised arrangement could require a fresh review, and China’s approval would remain a key question. The current public statements do not spell out the authority’s concerns or indicate whether a separate China company would meet its requirements.

A major asset in SoftBank’s robotics strategy

ABB agreed in October 2025 to sell its robotics division to SoftBank for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion. The acquisition was intended to combine ABB’s industrial robotics experience with SoftBank’s investments in artificial intelligence, robotics and computing. SoftBank has framed the deal as part of its effort to build what it calls “physical AI”: systems that connect AI models and software with machines that sense and act in the real world.

ABB Robotics is an established industrial business rather than a start-up bet. It generated $2.3 billion of revenue in 2024, about 7% of ABB Group revenue, and employed approximately 7,000 people. ABB reported an Operational EBITA margin of 12.1% for the division that year. Its products serve manufacturers and other industrial customers that use automated equipment for tasks such as material handling, welding, assembly and machine tending.

The acquisition would give SoftBank a broad customer base, engineering teams and existing robotics operations. A China separation could preserve access to much of that platform, but it might also reduce the advantages of owning the business as one integrated global unit. This is an execution risk rather than a confirmed outcome: the effect would depend on which assets were separated and how the businesses continued to cooperate.

ABB faces a changed timetable and capital plan

ABB had agreed to sell the division after previously planning to spin it off as an independent listed company. The sale was expected to close in mid-to-late 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions. A prohibition affecting the China business now complicates that timetable and leaves ABB weighing how to proceed with a transaction that was intended to release capital for other priorities.

If the sale cannot proceed in its current form, ABB could have to reconsider the earlier spin-off plan or explore other buyers and structures. Those possibilities remain alternatives, not announced decisions. A buyer would need to assess the standalone value of the robotics division, its operating footprint, the regulatory position in each market and the costs of separating it from ABB.

The episode also shows how cross-border deals involving advanced industrial technology can become entangled with national security and data concerns. Robotics systems are deployed across factories and can generate operational data about production processes. While no official explanation for the prohibition has been provided, a revised structure would need to address the questions raised by the review process, not simply change the transaction’s paperwork.

For now, the $5.375 billion acquisition remains unresolved. The companies are in discussions, but a China carve-out is only a reported possibility. The next meaningful update will be whether SoftBank and ABB present a revised proposal, pursue another route such as a spin-off, or decide that the regulatory and commercial obstacles make the original sale impractical.