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Symbolic image: China blocks SoftBank's takeover of ABB's robotics business in ChinaSymbolic image

China blocks SoftBank's takeover of ABB's robotics business in China

7 sources

China's foreign-investment security review authority has banned SoftBank's acquisition of ABB's China robotics operations, ABB said on Thursday. The $5.4bn deal agreed last year is now in doubt.

ABB, the Swiss-Swedish group, said on Thursday, 5 November, that the Chinese authority for security review of foreign investment had prohibited the takeover of its China business. ABB had agreed in October 2025 to sell the robotics unit to the Japanese group for an enterprise value of about $5.4bn. ABB says the two companies remain in close contact and are working constructively on the transaction, but it declined to say what the ban means for the overall sale. Nikkei Asia calls the move Beijing's latest intervention in a sale of key technology, and the New York Times places it within wider Chinese scrutiny of global deals that could affect its technology ambitions.

Data and AI concerns

The Financial Times reports that Chinese authorities fear data from robot production could flow abroad and be used to train AI models, possibly including those of OpenAI, in which SoftBank is a major shareholder. The FT adds that the unit is focused on the Chinese market and has a mega-factory in Pudong.

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