SoftBank CEO Son announced Arm will evolve from pure chip design licensor to direct manufacturer ('chip provider'); Arm retains '10x+ growth potential'.

SoftBank CEO Son announced at the company's shareholder meeting on June 24 that it plans to complete its acquisition of ABB's robotics business in 2026. The company intends to consolidate leading robotics enterprises across vertical domains to establish itself as a dominant global robotics player. Additionally, Son disclosed that Arm—SoftBank's chip design subsidiary—will shift from a pure licensing model to become a direct chip manufacturer, a structural change the company projects will preserve "10x+ growth potential."

The robotics and semiconductor moves signal SoftBank's push into hardware-adjacent businesses that feed AI infrastructure demands. ABB's industrial robotics assets would give SoftBank direct manufacturing footprint in automation, a sector increasingly intertwined with AI deployment. Arm's transition to chip provider status addresses competitive pressure in the AI processor market, where custom silicon drives efficiency gains critical to large-scale model training and deployment. Together, these moves position SoftBank to capture multiple nodes of the AI buildout—from silicon design and production through robotics automation used in data center operations and manufacturing at scale.