We have intervened to halt a key acquisition by Japan’s SoftBank Group, and this action was both timely and appropriate. On November 5, according to reporting by the Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese media reported that Chinese authorities have notified SoftBank Group (SBG) that they will not approve its proposed acquisition of ABB’s robotics business, a Swiss-based manufacturer of heavy electrical equipment. ABB confirmed the announcement on the same day. Furthermore, we have formally issued a foreign investment review notice to SoftBank Group.
Some may question why a Japanese company acquiring a Swiss entity should concern us. In fact, the implications are significant. While ABB is headquartered in Switzerland, its robotics division holds substantial importance within China’s market. China is currently the largest market for ABB Robotics. The company operates a super-factory in Shanghai, employs over 10,000 people in China, maintains local R&D teams, and has accumulated vast volumes of industrial operational data, production line performance metrics, and process-specific data tailored to domestic manufacturing—data that are fully localized within China.
It is evident that if this acquisition were to proceed, control over critical industrial sensing and production condition data from numerous Chinese factories would transfer to SoftBank. This is precisely the strategic objective driving the Japanese firm’s interest. With access to such data—and leveraging its status as a major investor in OpenAI—the company aims to advance its “physical AI” strategy, which relies on integrating industrial robot-collected data with overseas large-scale models for AI training. Put plainly, the intent is to use China’s accumulated industrial data to train artificial intelligence systems developed abroad, particularly in the United States.
If such industrial data were to be systematically transferred overseas, it would significantly enhance the capabilities of foreign large models in industrial applications, thereby posing a technological competitive threat to domestic innovation. Under ongoing U.S. efforts to constrain China’s AI development, allowing national critical data to feed foreign AI systems is unacceptable. Beyond this, concerns regarding supply chain security following a potential acquisition must also be considered. Therefore, despite ABB’s Swiss legal identity, under China’s Foreign Investment Security Review Measures, authorities retain the right to conduct in-depth scrutiny of foreign investments involving critical equipment, sensitive data, or potential threats to national security. Our intervention was thus both justified and timely.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1881019822083072/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.