China’s intervention has halted SoftBank’s US$5.4 billion effort to buy ABB’s robotics business, a purchase tied to Chief Executive Masayoshi Son’s artificial intelligence investment strategy.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, determined that the acquisition risked transferring robotics data overseas for use in training artificial intelligence models, including models developed by OpenAI, where SoftBank is a major investor.
SoftBank had agreed to acquire the division and expected the transaction to close. It was told last week that the NDRC had prohibited the purchase.
ABB announced the blocked takeover on 5 November. The Financial Times reported the prohibition the same day.
The NDRC reviews foreign investments that may have national security implications. Its intervention leaves SoftBank and ABB trying to preserve a transaction involving a business whose biggest robotics market is China, accounting for around 30% of ABB’s robot-related business.
ABB has about 30 local companies in China and around 15,000 employees across nearly 130 cities. ABB Engineering (Shanghai) houses the group’s global robotics headquarters and serves as an important research-and-development centre and production base.
Son has presented robotics as a core part of SoftBank’s artificial intelligence investment strategy.
Investors marked down both companies after the decision became public. ABB shares fell 1.1% in morning trading, while SoftBank shares, already down about 5% before the Financial Times report was published, finished the day down 6.8%.
ABB said it remained in close dialogue with SoftBank and that the companies were working on the transaction.
The ruling is China’s second block on a major deal in 2026. Meta was earlier ordered to unwind its US$2-billion-plus purchase of artificial intelligence startup Manus.
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