*The ABB Robotics product portfolio includes the OmniCore controller. Source: ABB

An earthquake has struck the world of robotics, the echoes of which will be felt in every factory from Stuttgart to Shanghai. Swiss industrial giant ABB, whose yellow manipulators have been a symbol of factory automation for decades, has made a shocking decision: sell its robotics business to Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank. The price of the issue is an unheard—of $5.3 billion. This is not just an asset purchase and sale transaction. This is an existential choice that reveals two completely different philosophies of the future.

Why did the Swiss decide to part with the "family silver"?

ABB and robots are almost synonymous. Their hands have been assembling cars, packing groceries, and making complicated knots for decades. For the industry, it was the benchmark of reliability, the "Swiss watch" in the world of automation. It seemed that this business was their blood and their flesh.

However, if you look closely, the logic becomes clear. Industrial robotics is a mature, competitive market with tight margins. This is a world where every percentage of productivity and cost of ownership is being fought for. SoftBank, with its Vision Fund, is looking in a completely different direction — towards a future where robots do not just turn the wheels, but become services, partners, and part of everyday life. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is known for his giant bets on future technologies. The purchase of ABB Robotics is not an acquisition of production lines, it is a strategic seizure of the "brain" and "hands" to realize their futuristic visions, from the "Internet of Things" to the total robotization of the service sector.

"This is a landmark moment for the entire industry," the analysts comment. — ABB may see greater growth potential in its activities in the field of electrification and process automation, where they also have a strong position. The sale allows them to focus on these areas and gain huge resources for investment."

SoftBank: Crazy genius or visionary?

SoftBank is not just a company. This is the factory of the future, run by a man who is not afraid of the craziest ambitions. They are not buying ABB Robotics to continue producing the same industrial robots. They buy them to rethink the very essence of what it means to be a robot. It can be expected that under the wing of SoftBank, ABB robots will become significantly "smarter", will receive more artificial intelligence, opportunities for autonomous operation in an unpredictable environment and integration into cloud ecosystems. Imagine an ABB robot that not only works on an assembly line, but also learns new tasks on its own, exchanges data with other machines, and becomes part of a global network controlled from a single center. This is probably what SoftBank is leading to.

What does this mean for everyone else? New rules of the game

This deal sends a clear signal to the entire market.

The end of the era of isolation. The era when robotics was reserved for highly specialized engineering companies is ending. Technological titans are entering the arena, for whom robots are just one element of a gigantic digital ecosystem.

The battle for data. The most valuable assets now are not hardware, but the data it generates and the algorithms that control it. SoftBank is buying not just manipulators, but access to huge amounts of industrial data.

Democratization and servicization. In the future, companies may not need to buy robots. They will subscribe to Robotics-as-a-Service, where SoftBank will provide not only hardware, but also all the necessary software, analytics and support.