What happened
- China’s Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review prohibited in the country the purchase of ABB Robotics by the Japanese group SoftBank. The Robot Report published it on 5 November 2026.
- ABB confirmed the block to the outlet. The US$ 5.375 billion deal had been announced more than a year ago.
- The authorities voiced concern that robotics data could be transferred abroad and used to train AI models, according to The Financial Times, which first reported the decision.
- ABB said the two companies remain “in close dialogue” and are working constructively on the transaction.
Why it matters
- A Zurich-based company and a Japanese buyer end up subject to Beijing because China weighs heavily in ABB’s business. Selling robots there means answering to its regulators.
- The stated motive is not competition but data: what a robot records in a factory is already treated as a security matter.
- The decision adds to measures raising barriers to foreign robotics in the two large economies.
The number
90%. That is the share of ABB’s machines for Chinese buyers made locally, mainly at its Shanghai plant. Its business in the country grew 32% in the third quarter of 2026, according to The Robot Report.
Context
China already stopped another deal in April this year, when it prevented Meta from buying Manus, an AI company founded there and relocated to Singapore, for US$ 2 billion. The United States has also moved: President Trump said last week that the commerce secretary had delivered a Section 232 report on imports of robots and industrial machinery, which could lead to tariffs.
The FCC, meanwhile, banned new foreign-made advanced robotic devices, including humanoids and quadrupeds, over supply chain and cybersecurity risks. ABB Robotics has about 7,000 employees and its US headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. A note on figures: The Robot Report gives orders from China in amounts that appear to be expressed in thousands and could not be confirmed, so they are not used here.
We follow this sector at Mamífero. We reported that Korea opened a data factory with 12 humanoids and that Bosch will split its chips into a separate division. Also that Rivian bought Third Dimension and that a sub-gram microdrone flew untethered for over four minutes.
What’s next
- ABB and SoftBank will have to decide whether to restructure the deal to leave out the Chinese business or abandon it.
- The Robot Report expects further comment from its sources.
- A possible US tariff on foreign robots would add another layer to the same market.
Bottom line
Buying a robot company is no longer only a matter of price. Where the data those machines generate ends up also counts, and China has just made that felt.
Sources
- The Robot Report, “Chinese regulators block SoftBank’s $5.4B acquisition of ABB Robotics”, 5 November 2026, link. It cites The Financial Times, whose article could not be read.
- Cover image: Dependability, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Edited by Rodrigo Cornejo. How we select and verify: who writes these notes.
