Masayoshi Son Strikes Again as SoftBank Seeks to Acquire OpenAI-Backed Humanoid Robot Giant 1X for $6 Billion

TradingKey - SoftBank enters a new AI sector, seeking to acquire robotics company 1X at a $6 billion valuation.

According to a report by The Information on August 27, SoftBank is in talks to acquire a majority controlling stake in Norwegian humanoid robotics startup 1X Technologies at a valuation of up to $6 billion, once again demonstrating CEO Masayoshi Son's strong investment ambition in artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence. As of press time, SoftBank's stock price spiked before pulling back, down 0.87% to temporarily trade at 5,118 yen (approximately $32).

SoftBank stock price chart, Source: TradingView

1X is a humanoid robot developer with early investment and technical support from OpenAI, focusing on building humanoid robots centered on home services. Pre-orders for its flagship product, NEO, are now open, priced at $20,000 or a $499 monthly subscription, with plans to deliver to the first batch of US users this year.

SoftBank previously developed Pepper and acquired Boston Dynamics. Now making another major investment, it is directly penetrating the new generation of general-purpose humanoid robots powered by generative AI, aiming to round out its robotics portfolio. Masayoshi Son is quite bullish on this sector, having once predicted that "physical devices combining robotics technology and artificial intelligence will spawn the next trillion-dollar company."