ABB confirmed that SoftBank had informed ABB that the China Foreign Investment Security Review Working Office had prohibited SoftBank from acquiring ABB's robotics business in China.

On November 5th, ABB Group released an announcement stating that SoftBank had informed ABB that the China Foreign Investment Security Review Working Office had prohibited SoftBank from acquiring ABB's robotics business in China. Although this does not mean that the entire global transaction has been officially terminated, China, as one of ABB's largest markets for robotics, its business cannot be delivered as originally planned, which has already caused significant uncertainties to the transaction.

In October 2025, ABB and SoftBank signed an agreement to sell the ABB robotics business at a corporate value of 5.375 billion US dollars. This business had a revenue of approximately 2.3 billion US dollars in 2024, accounting for about 7% of ABB's total revenue, and has long held a second-place global market share. ABB originally planned to split the robotics business for an initial public offering, but changed to an overall sale due to SoftBank's higher offer.

This transaction requires approval from multiple countries' regulatory authorities. The EU granted unconditional approval in March 2026; the Chinese anti-monopoly review was passed in February 2026, but was subsequently blocked at the foreign investment security review stage. The approval situation for other regulatory authorities in the United States and other countries has not disclosed the final results.

Why can China influence this transaction?

The key lies in that ABB robotics has substantive assets and operations in China. China is one of ABB's largest markets for robotics, with over 90% of the robots for Chinese customers being locally produced at the Shanghai Super Factory. This factory was launched in 2022 with an investment of approximately 150 million US dollars, and ABB has a nearly 300-person R&D team and a complete sales service system in China.

According to China's "Foreign Investment Security Review Measures", as long as the target assets have substantive operations in China and involve key technologies, important data, etc., a change in control may enter the review scope.

According to a report by The Financial Times citing an insider, the review authorities were concerned that the production line data, process parameters, and scene feedback generated during robot operation might be transferred overseas to be used for training AI models - SoftBank is a major investor in OpenAI, making this chain more likely to trigger security review nerves. It should be noted that the data leakage concerns come from media reports, not the complete decision reasons disclosed by the regulatory authorities.

The two parties are still in communication, and the transaction has not been officially terminated.

ABB's announcement clearly stated that both parties are still in close communication and actively promoting the transaction matters. SoftBank declined to comment; the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated at a press conference on November 5th that related issues are recommended to be asked of the Chinese authorities.

Analysts pointed out that the possible subsequent paths for this transaction include:

Divestiture of the Chinese business: SoftBank acquires the ABB robotics business outside of China, with the Chinese business remaining within the ABB system;

Re-designing the transaction structure:争取有条件批准 through technology licensing， supply arrangements， data localization， etc.；

Transaction suspension or termination： If no feasible solution can be found， the overall acquisition may be difficult to proceed as originally planned.

If the Chinese business is divested， cross-company technology licensing， spare parts supply， and service cooperation all need to be renegotiated， and the originally expected approximately 5.3 billion US dollars in cash repayment will also need to be re-evaluated.

This transaction being blocked reflects the profound changes in the global technology merger and acquisition environment. As artificial intelligence moves from screens to the physical world， the technological， data， and supply chain value carried by the robotics business is being incorporated into a more stringent national security and industrial security review framework. For cross-border transactions involving robotics， advanced manufacturing， and automation， regulatory approval is no longer just a "formality" but may become a key variable determining the success or failure of the transaction.

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