SoftBank Group

Munich-based Agile Robots said on 24 March 2026 it had formed a strategic research partnership with Google DeepMind to integrate Gemini Robotics foundation models with its hardware, starting with manufacturing use cases. The German company, which says it has installed more than 20,000 robotic solutions, becomes the latest hardware maker in Google's orbit after Boston Dynamics and Apptronik. No financial terms were disclosed.

The European Commission cleared SoftBank Group's purchase of ABB's robotics division, valued at USD 5.375 billion, under its simplified procedure on 11 March 2026. The price equals 17.2 times the division's 2024 EBITDA, while the floor valuation of Skild AI, whose round SoftBank led in January, is 2.6 times as high. Approvals in China and the United States remain, and both companies expect closing in mid-to-late 2026.

Symbotic reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $629.9 million on 4 February 2026, up 29% from a year earlier, with net income of $13.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $66.9 million. Its backlog stood at $22.3 billion and it guided second-quarter revenue to $650 million to $670 million. Walmart accounted for 85.6% of revenue, and a change in stock-compensation accounting added $9.3 million to profit.

Teradyne said its Universal Robots and MiR unit booked $89 million of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025, up about 19% on the third quarter but below $98 million a year earlier. Full year robotics revenue fell to $308 million from $365 million, and restructuring in the unit affected about 400 employees, while group revenue rose 44% in the quarter on AI chip test demand.

ABB's robotics division, now reported as a discontinued operation ahead of its USD 5.375 billion sale to SoftBank Group, booked 2025 revenue of USD 2,331 million and income from operations of USD 294 million, ABB disclosed with its fourth-quarter results on 29 January 2026. Fourth-quarter operating income fell to USD 37 million from USD 71 million as expenses rose 48%, while gross margin improved.

FANUC released an open-source ROS 2 driver, made Python standard on its robots and showed NVIDIA-based physical AI demonstrations at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. Yaskawa Electric and SoftBank Corp. signed a memorandum to build office robots that split AI between the mobile network edge and the robot. Organisers counted a record 673 exhibitors and 156,110 visitors over the show's four days.

SoftBank Group will acquire ABB Robotics for an enterprise value of US$5.375 billion, the two companies said on 8 October 2025, replacing ABB's plan to list the unit separately in 2026. The division had 2024 revenue of US$2.279 billion and about 7,000 employees, and the deal needs approval in the EU, China and the US before an expected close in mid-to-late 2026.

Skild AI on July 29, 2025 named and described its robotics foundation model, the Skild Brain, a two-layer system pre-trained on simulation and internet video that the company says runs across quadrupeds, humanoids, table-top arms and mobile manipulators. The launch carried no customers or prices, but set out the body-agnostic strategy that later underpinned a $14 billion-plus valuation and more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

Doosan Robotics agreed on 28 July 2025 to buy 89.59% of ONExia, an Exton, Pennsylvania robot integrator, for a final KRW 37.41 billion (USD 27.19 million) in cash, closing on 17 September 2025. ONExia has since absorbed Doosan's US sales arm, won Haleon packaging contracts and swung to a loss as the merged unit, while Doosan raised its stake to 94.12%.