The acquirer is trading higher. That's living the M&A dream. A dream come true.
From CNBC October 8:
- SoftBank Group jumped 10% after it agreed to buy ABB’s robotic division.
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1%.
- Hong Kong markets were set to open higher.
- South Korean markets were closed for a holiday.
Shares of SoftBank jumped over 10% Thursday after the Japanese giant announced Wednesday that it agreed to buy the robotics division of Swiss engineering firm ABB for $5.4 billion, further advancing SoftBank’s AI footprint.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval globally, means ABB will no longer look to spin off its robotics business as a separately listed company.
“SoftBank’s next frontier is Physical AI. Together with ABB Robotics, we will unite world-class technology and talent under our shared vision to fuse Artificial Super Intelligence and robotics — driving a groundbreaking evolution that will propel humanity forward,” Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, said in a statement.
Artificial Super Intelligence, or ASI, is Son’s idea of AI that is 10,000 times smarter than humans.
Son has looked to position SoftBank at the center of the potential AI boom through investments and acquisitions in different areas of technology. SoftBank owns chip designer Arm, for example, and has a major stake in OpenAI.
SoftBank-owned British chip designer Graphcore is also planning to invest $1.3 billion in India, including a new research hub, Bloomberg reported early Thursday.
The plans are expected to be announced during British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to India this week. He will be accompanied by a business delegation, the report said, citing sources familiar with the matter....
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ABB robotics, back in the day....
September 2017
"Race to Make Robots for China Spurs ABB Plan to Double Capacity" (ABB)
Well it's about time.
We were getting whispers of this five years ago. Some links below....
*****
August 2012
Here's the Robot that Foxconn Will Use to Build Their Million-strong "Robot Kingdom" (ABB; AAPL)
November 2012
Foxconn Begins Installing First 10,000 Robots (AAPL)
These are simple robotic arms* not the anthropomorphized bots we mentioned in August's "Here's the Robot that Foxconn Will Use to Build Their Million-strong "Robot Kingdom" (ABB; AAPL)".
As speculated, Foxconn is building their own robots....
*Compare to the ABB FRIDA from our August post:
7-axis, dual arm, 720 degree 'wrist' spin, portable, and on and on:
That's it. No more work for me.
Images and video: ABB
Another of ABB's Robots: Pancake Pickers and Packers/Stackers
October 2014
"Million Robot Revolution Delayed—iPhone Manufacturer Foxconn Hires More Humans"
“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.”
November 2018
More Wallenberg Investing: "Robots to make robots at ABB's new $150 million factory in China"
As seen last week the Wallenberg clan has a 10.7% stake in ABB.
They are patient money which is a good thing because in this case, it has been six years since we posted "Here's the Robot that Foxconn Will Use to Build Their Million-strong "Robot Kingdom" (ABB; AAPL)".
It turned out the Chinese government preferred that Foxconn's Mr. Gou not fully automate the Shenzhen facility and put 500,000 people out of work.
So ABB has taken a slightly different approach....
