A $5.4 Billion Robotics Sale Signals Europe’s Loss of Control
ABB’s YuMi robot can work the turntables but soon this talent will belong to SoftBank.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/BloombergAnnouncing the $5.4 billion acquisition of Swiss conglomerate ABB Ltd.’s robotics unit last week, SoftBank Group Corp. Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son heralded an era of “physical AI” that would propel humanity forward. But I worry more risk-tolerant and better-funded Asian and US tech firms will lead the next robot revolution, while Europe gets left behind.
Europe has for decades been a major producer and user of robots: It boasts two of the “big four” industrial robot companies, ABB and Kuka AG (the other two are Fanuc Corp. and Yaskawa Electric Corp. of Japan), plus more than one-third of the world’s professional, consumer and medical robot developers.