China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4 billion takeover of ABB’s robotics unit

China’s state planner has told SoftBank it will not allow the $5.4 billion acquisition of the robotics segment of engineering group ABB to go ahead, ABB said on Thursday⁴. China blocked the acquisition on foreign investment grounds², with the country’s investment security review prohibiting the deal³.

SoftBank announced the deal in October 2025 as part of founder Masayoshi Son’s push into artificial intelligence⁸. SoftBank agreed at the time to pay $5.375 billion for ABB’s robotics division⁹.

The Swiss engineering group announced the decision on Thursday⁴, confirming that China had barred SoftBank’s purchase of ABB Robotics in China⁷. The block covers a business that SoftBank had agreed to buy for $5.375 billion⁹.

Why it matters to investors

The decision is a major blow to SoftBank and to Son, one of the tech industry’s biggest believers in artificial intelligence¹. It restrains SoftBank’s ambitions in robotics, which Son has billed as a core component of its AI strategy⁵. Son summarized the ambition directly: SoftBank’s next frontier is physical AI⁷.

The case shows Beijing’s reach over cross-border deals. It marks the second major deal blocked by China this year, after Meta Platforms was ordered to unwind its acquisition of the artificial intelligence start-up Manus⁴. It comes as Beijing tightens scrutiny of foreign investment in domestic start-ups⁴.

Commentary on the decision describes China’s merger review as having a hair trigger³, and the intervention as impeding foreign deals¹. The move flexes Beijing’s control over AI technology².

The deal was meant to combine SoftBank’s artificial intelligence platforms with ABB’s robotic arms⁶.

SoftBank had linked the deal to its artificial intelligence strategy from the start, announcing it in October 2025 as part of Son’s push into AI⁸. Beijing’s decision to keep the business out of SoftBank’s hands is described as a move to keep the data home⁹.

What to watch

SoftBank is now examining what went wrong¹⁰. Any revised structure would need to address the foreign investment grounds cited for the block².

ABB’s next steps for its robotics business are also open, since the sale it agreed in October 2025 can no longer proceed^4,8.

For other acquirers, the question is how widely China applies this scrutiny to foreign purchases of businesses with Chinese operations in AI and robotics^3,4.