According to industry sources cited by The Information on August 27, SoftBank Group is in exclusive negotiations to acquire a majority stake in Norway-based humanoid robot startup 1X Technologies. The proposed deal values the company at approximately $6 billion.
Negotiations are still ongoing and deal terms remain subject to adjustment. No definitive agreement has been signed, and neither SoftBank nor 1X Technologies has officially commented on the market rumours.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Oslo, 1X Technologies — formerly known as Halodi Robotics — counts OpenAI Startup Fund and NVIDIA among its key institutional investors. The company focuses specifically on consumer and household humanoid robots, a differentiated positioning in the global humanoid industry.
Its flagship bipedal robot model NEO is designed for daily domestic scenarios, capable of folding clothes, cleaning residences, watering plants, and handling routine household tasks. Priced at $20,000 for full purchase, the robot is also available via a $499 monthly subscription plan. Pre-orders opened in October 2025, with official deliveries originally scheduled for 2026, though mass commercial shipment has not yet commenced.
The $6 billion valuation marks a notable shift in the company’s financing trajectory. In late 2025, 1X Technologies aimed to raise $1 billion at a $100 billion valuation but secured far less capital than targeted. While the current deal valuation represents a downward revision from its last fundraising ambition, it still reflects a substantial upgrade from its $820 million valuation recorded in early 2025. As the firm remains in the early commercialisation stage with limited revenue scale, SoftBank’s potential investment will provide substantial capital and computational resources to accelerate hardware iteration and AI model optimisation for humanoid applications.
The proposed acquisition also signals SoftBank’s official return to the core humanoid robot track. The move comes merely one month after SoftBank fully exited Boston Dynamics by selling its remaining stake, ending its previous bet on industrial-grade humanoid robots.
SoftBank’s strategic approach has undergone a comprehensive upgrade after its earlier setbacks with the Pepper robot and Boston Dynamics investment. The Group is now building a full-stack Physical AI industrial ecosystem. It previously acquired ABB’s robotics business for $53.75 billion to secure industrial hardware manufacturing capacity and led a $1.4 billion financing round for Skild AI to strengthen underlying robot foundation model capabilities.
A successful majority acquisition of 1X Technologies will complete SoftBank’s industrial layout, covering industrial robot production, general robotic AI algorithms, and consumer-facing home humanoid terminals, fully implementing Masayoshi Son’s long-term Physical AI vision.
Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, previously projected that the global humanoid robot market will exceed HK$290 trillion by 2040, with over one billion AI-powered humanoid robots deployed across industrial, commercial and household scenarios worldwide. The investment in 1X Technologies represents SoftBank’s core bet on the mass adoption of consumer humanoid robots in ordinary households.
Market analysts point out that the global humanoid robot industry is currently at a critical inflection point. While most startups face pressure from delayed mass production, slow delivery progress and tightened capital financing, leading industrial players are making counter-cyclical mergers and acquisitions, accelerating industry resource concentration toward powerful technology and capital platforms.
If closed smoothly, the $6 billion transaction will become SoftBank’s largest majority investment in the humanoid robot sector to date, and is expected to significantly accelerate the global commercialisation process of household humanoid robots.
Disclaimer: This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice.