According to the South China Morning Post, ABB said on Thursday that China's state planner informed SoftBank that the $5.4 billion deal for ABB's robotics division will not be approved. It is the second major deal China has blocked this year, after Meta was ordered to unwind its acquisition of AI start-up Manus, valued at more than $2 billion.
The decision comes as Beijing tightens scrutiny of foreign investment in domestic companies developing frontier technologies. It also curbs SoftBank's robotics ambitions, which CEO Masayoshi Son has presented as a core part of its AI investment strategy. ABB and SoftBank have not yet said what their next steps will be.