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SoftBank in Talks to Acquire Majority Stake in Humanoid Robotics Maker 1X at Billion Valuation

SoftBank Group is in advanced discussions to acquire a controlling majority stake in humanoid robotics manufacturer 1X Technologies in a deal valuing the startup at approximately $6 billion, according to reporting by The Information and Reuters. 1X Technologies, founded by Bernt Øivind Børnich and backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, designs autonomous bipedal and wheeled robots for industrial logistics and home assistance. Deal Structure and Strategic Context The negotiations mark a valuation

axc
axc
2 min
SoftBank in Talks to Acquire Majority Stake in Humanoid Robotics Maker 1X at Billion Valuation

SoftBank Group is in advanced discussions to acquire a controlling majority stake in humanoid robotics manufacturer 1X Technologies in a deal valuing the startup at approximately $6 billion, according to reporting by The Information and Reuters.

1X Technologies, founded by Bernt Øivind Børnich and backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, designs autonomous bipedal and wheeled robots for industrial logistics and home assistance.

Deal Structure and Strategic Context

The negotiations mark a valuation adjustment from earlier fundraising efforts. In 2025, 1X sought to raise $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, but closed under 50% of that target as institutional capital consolidated around hardware platforms with verified deployment pipelines.

Humanoid Robotics Actuator and Neural Control Architecture

The potential acquisition aligns with SoftBank's aggressive capital deployment into embodied artificial intelligence and physical automation:

  • Robotics Ecosystem Consolidation: SoftBank previously agreed to acquire Swiss industrial group ABB's robotics division for $5.4 billion. Adding 1X provides SoftBank with consumer-facing humanoid technology alongside established industrial arms.
  • OpenAI Partnership Realignment: OpenAI led 1X's Series A round in 2023 and previously held internal discussions regarding a potential full acquisition of the startup to develop proprietary embodied AI hardware.
  • Hardware Integration for Frontier Models: The deal provides 1X with extensive capital reserves required to scale commercial manufacturing of its Neo bipedal humanoid robot while integrating multimodal vision-language-action (VLA) foundation models.

Transition Toward Physical AI Systems

The humanoid robotics sector is experiencing rapid capitalization as foundation model developers seek physical embodiment platforms. The integration of high-torque direct-drive actuators with real-time end-to-end neural network controllers has reduced teleoperation dependency, shifting investor focus from software-only agent frameworks toward embodied physical hardware.

The transaction terms remain subject to ongoing negotiations between SoftBank, 1X leadership, and existing venture shareholders.

Sources

AIRoboticsHardwareFundingOpenAI
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