SoftBank plans to list new AI and robotics company in the US
```json { "title": "SoftBank Plans to List AI and Robotics Company Roze in the US", "metaDescription": "SoftBank is planning a US IPO for a new AI and robotics company called Roze, targeting a valuation of up to $100 billion as early as 2026.", "content": "<h2>SoftBank Eyes Up to $100 Billion Valuation for New AI and Robotics IPO</h2><p>SoftBank Group is planning to create and publicly list a new artificial intelligence and robotics company called Roze in the United States, potentially as early as 2026, according to a Financial Times report published April 29, 2026. People familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that SoftBank executives are targeting a valuation of up to $100 billion for Roze, which will focus on building data centers. The planned listing is the latest and most ambitious move in founder and CEO Masayoshi Son's aggressive push into AI — a campaign that has already committed tens of billions of dollars across OpenAI, the Stargate infrastructure joint venture, and the pending acquisition of ABB Group's industrial robotics division.</p><p>Reuters reported on April 29, 2026 that it could not immediately verify the Financial Times report. SoftBank has not confirmed the plans publicly, and the company has not finalized how large a stake in Roze it plans to sell.</p><h2>What We Know About Roze</h2><p>According to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, Roze will be involved in building data centers and is being positioned as an AI and robotics company. Beyond those details, the structure, assets, and operational scope of Roze have not been publicly confirmed by SoftBank.</p><p>The $100 billion valuation target, if accurate, would make Roze one of the largest tech IPOs in recent memory. For context, SoftBank listed British chip designer Arm Holdings on Nasdaq in September 2023, raising $4.87 billion while retaining a nearly 90% ownership stake. As of April 2026, SoftBank's 87% ownership in Arm is worth approximately $150 billion, making it the conglomerate's largest single asset, according to Advisor Perspectives citing Bloomberg. SoftBank has historically retained majority control in companies it has taken public, and the same pattern may apply to Roze — though no decisions have been finalized.</p><p>SoftBank was ranked 130th on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's largest public companies in 2025.</p><h2>The Physical AI Strategy Behind Roze</h2><p>The planned Roze IPO does not exist in isolation. It is the public-market expression of a broader strategic pivot that Son has been executing across multiple fronts simultaneously.</p><p>In October 2025, SoftBank signed an agreement to acquire ABB Group's robotics division for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion, according to ABB's official press release. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in mid-to-late 2026. ABB's robotics business employs roughly 7,000 people and generated $2.3 billion in revenue in 2024, representing 7% of ABB's overall revenue, according to TechCrunch.</p><p>Son has framed the ABB acquisition as central to what he calls SoftBank's "Physical AI" strategy — the goal of combining advanced artificial intelligence with real-world robotics capabilities.</p><blockquote><p>"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, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp.</p></blockquote><p>ABB's outgoing CEO also welcomed the transaction.</p><blockquote><p>"SoftBank will be an excellent new home for the business and its employees. ABB Robotics will benefit from the combination of its leading technology and deep industry expertise with SoftBank's state-of-the-art capabilities in AI, robotics and next-generation computing." — Morten Wierod, CEO of ABB</p></blockquote><p>Whether the ABB Robotics business will be folded into Roze, operated separately, or used to anchor the new company's asset base has not been confirmed by SoftBank.</p><h2>SoftBank's Mounting AI Commitments and Financial Position</h2><p>The Roze announcement — if confirmed — would add another major financial commitment to an already stretched balance sheet. SoftBank is one of the founding equity partners of the Stargate Project, a joint venture with OpenAI and Oracle that intends to invest $500 billion over four years building AI infrastructure in the United States, according to OpenAI's official announcement in January 2025.</p><p>To fund its $30 billion commitment to invest in OpenAI, SoftBank took on a $40 billion loan in March 2026, provided by JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and four Japanese banks, according to TechCrunch. Masayoshi Son serves as chairman of Stargate LLC, according to Wikipedia. OpenAI, at the center of these investments, completed a funding round in March 2026 raising $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.</p><p>SoftBank's aggressive dealmaking has raised questions about financial sustainability. Advisor Perspectives, citing Bloomberg, noted in April 2026 that research from CreditSights estimated a $32 billion funding shortfall for SoftBank. The conglomerate's biggest counterweight to that pressure remains its Arm Holdings stake, valued at approximately $150 billion.</p><p>A successful Roze IPO — particularly at a $100 billion valuation — could serve multiple purposes: it would generate capital, establish a public-market vehicle for SoftBank's AI and robotics ambitions, and potentially offer investors direct exposure to assets that are currently buried inside the SoftBank conglomerate structure.</p><h2>Why This Matters: AI Infrastructure Meets the Public Markets</h2><p>The planned Roze IPO, if it proceeds, would arrive at a moment when AI infrastructure is one of the most hotly contested investment categories in global markets. Data center capacity, compute availability, and physical AI deployment are areas where trillion-dollar companies and sovereign wealth funds are competing for position. SoftBank's decision to list Roze in the United States — rather than Japan — signals where it sees the deepest pools of capital and investor appetite for AI bets.</p><p>The inclusion of data centers as a core focus for Roze also places the company in direct conversation with the buildout happening under Stargate, where SoftBank is already committed to large-scale AI infrastructure spending. Whether these initiatives will complement or compete with one another structurally is not yet clear.</p><p>For the robotics side of Roze's mandate, the pending ABB acquisition brings genuine industrial scale: $2.3 billion in annual revenue, 7,000 employees, and decades of manufacturing and automation expertise. That is a meaningfully different starting point than most AI-era robotics startups, which are still pre-revenue or early-stage. If SoftBank can successfully integrate ABB Robotics' industrial capabilities with AI software and position that combination under a publicly listed entity, it would represent one of the more substantial physical AI plays to reach public markets.</p><p>That said, the $100 billion valuation target demands scrutiny. At that figure, Roze would be valued at more than 43 times ABB Robotics' 2024 revenue — a premium that would require investors to price in significant future growth and AI-driven upside that has not yet been demonstrated.</p><h2>What Comes Next</h2><p>Several critical details remain unresolved. SoftBank has not confirmed the Roze plans publicly. The company has not finalized the size of the stake it will sell. The timeline — "as early as 2026" per the Financial Times — is contingent on market conditions, regulatory developments, and the completion of the ABB Robotics deal, which itself is still pending approval and expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.</p><p>The relationship between Roze and SoftBank's existing portfolio — including its Arm Holdings stake, its Stargate commitments, and its OpenAI investment — will also need to be clearly defined before any listing can proceed. Investors will want to understand what, exactly, they are buying, and how Roze's assets and revenue streams are distinct from the broader SoftBank ecosystem.</p><p>Reuters' inability to immediately verify the Financial Times report is worth noting. Until SoftBank makes a formal disclosure, the Roze IPO remains a reported plan, not a confirmed one.</p><p>For more tech news, visit our <a href=\"/news\">news section</a>.</p>", "excerpt": "SoftBank Group is planning to create and list a new AI and robotics company called Roze in the United States as early as 2026, with executives reportedly targeting a valuation of up to $100 billion, according to the Financial Times. The move is the latest in CEO Masayoshi Son's aggressive push into artificial intelligence, which already includes a $30 billion OpenAI investment and a $5.375 billion deal to acquire ABB Group's robotics division. SoftBank has not publicly confirmed the plans, and key details including the size of the stake to be sold remain undecided.", "keywords": ["SoftBank Roze IPO", "AI and robotics company", "Masayoshi Son", "SoftBank AI strategy", "Physical AI"], "slug": "softbank-plans-to-list-ai-robotics-company-roze-us-ipo" } ```