China Blocks SoftBank’s $5.4bn ABB Robotics DealBusiness

SoftBank had agreed in October 2025 to buy ABB’s robotics division for an enterprise value of about $5.375 billion. The deal was intended to strengthen SoftBank’s position in industrial automation and robotics, which its founder and chief executive, Masayoshi Son, has described as a core part of its AI investment strategy.

According to Reuters, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the state planner that reviews foreign investment with possible national security implications, told SoftBank last week that the transaction would not be allowed to proceed. SoftBank had expected the deal to go through until then, and declined to comment on the decision.

The reported concern behind the block is data. The Financial Times reported that regulators worried information generated by ABB’s robotics operations in China could be transferred overseas and used to train advanced AI systems, including those built by OpenAI, in which SoftBank is a major investor. The grounds have not been set out officially, and the explanation rests on the newspaper’s sources rather than any Chinese announcement.

China is ABB’s biggest market for its robotics business, representing around 30 percent of the division’s business, which makes the country essential to the deal. ABB builds robots in Shanghai, and about 90 percent of the machines it sells to Chinese customers are made locally. The division, which makes robotic arms and other devices used in manufacturing and logistics, reported revenue of about $2.3 billion in 2024 and employs roughly 7,000 people worldwide.

ABB said in a statement on Thursday that it had been informed by SoftBank that China’s Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review had prohibited the acquisition of ABB Robotics in China. The company stressed that both firms remained in close dialogue and were continuing to work on the transaction, and it has not announced that the deal has been terminated.

The case marks the second major deal blocked by China this year, after Meta was ordered to unwind its acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, worth more than $2 billion. It also underlines Beijing’s growing willingness to use security reviews to control technology and data flows.

The market reaction was swift. ABB shares fell 1.1 percent in morning trading after the news became public, while SoftBank shares dropped 6.7 percent on Thursday and are now down more than 50 percent from their all-time highs in June, erasing over $140 billion in value, according to the Wall Street Journal.

SoftBank reports results for the six months to September on November 10, which will be the first scheduled opportunity for the group to say whether it will reapply, restructure the deal or walk away. Until then, the future of one of the biggest robotics deals in recent years remains uncertain.