SoftBank pursues majority stake in home humanoid maker 1X

According to a Reuters report on August 26, SoftBank Group is in talks to buy a majority stake in 1X Technologies, an OpenAI-backed humanoid robot developer. A deal would value 1X at roughly $6 billion. Tech outlet The Information first reported the talks; Reuters said it could not independently confirm the report.

SoftBank declined to comment on the report, and 1X did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The talks are ongoing and the terms could change, The Information said. The discussions follow talks last year between OpenAI and 1X over a possible acquisition by the ChatGPT maker, which did not result in a deal.

A valuation cut by more than a third in under a year

What stands out in the talks is the drop in valuation. Less than a year ago, 1X was trying to raise $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, but according to The Information, it raised less than half its target. The $6 billion SoftBank is reportedly discussing is roughly 40% below that earlier target valuation. OpenAI invested in 1X in 2023 through its OpenAI Startup Fund, alongside Tiger Global and a group of Norway-based investors.

From a Norwegian startup to a bet on the robot at home

1X was founded in Moss, Norway, in 2014 as Halodi Robotics, initially focused on developing androids for enterprise applications, before rebranding as 1X in 2023. The company now operates between Norway and Sunnyvale, California, focusing on embodied AI, where machines learn to interact with physical environments. CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich has steered 1X in a direction that sets it apart from better-known humanoid rivals: while Tesla's Optimus and Figure AI have focused on factory and industrial applications, 1X is betting that humanoid robots will eventually belong inside homes.

• Founded in 2014 in Moss, Norway, as Halodi Robotics
• Renamed 1X in 2023, pivoted toward home robots
• Flagship product: the bipedal home robot Neo (folds laundry, makes coffee, vacuums)
• Neo Gamma, unveiled in early 2025, uses a knitted nylon exterior to reduce injury risk
• Backed since 2023 by the OpenAI Startup Fund, Tiger Global and Norwegian investors

1X's flagship product, the bipedal robot Neo, is designed to handle everyday domestic chores including folding laundry, making coffee and vacuuming. Its 2025 successor, Neo Gamma, wraps the robot in a soft knitted nylon exterior meant to reduce the risk of injury from contact in uncontrolled environments shared with children, pets and furniture. 1X has been testing the robots in real homes, relying on teleoperation as a fallback while it gradually increases their autonomy.

SoftBank builds out its robotics bet

The reported 1X talks fit into a much larger robotics strategy at SoftBank. The Japanese investment group agreed last year to acquire Swiss engineering group ABB's robotics business for $5.4 billion, adding industrial robotics to a portfolio increasingly centred on AI infrastructure and automation. A deal for 1X would push SoftBank beyond the factory floor and into the far less proven market of the home. Led by Masayoshi Son, SoftBank appears willing to spend billions before anyone knows which humanoid architecture, AI system or business model will ultimately win.

The talks are ongoing, and the terms could change.

The home humanoid market remains far less proven than industrial robotics, which is already an established business. No company has yet delivered a general-purpose robot that can safely navigate millions of homes alongside children, pets, furniture and people. Analysts see 1X's home-first strategy as SoftBank's biggest potential prize precisely because of that risk: the market is unproven, but so is its ceiling.

For robotics and AI companies watching from outside Japan and Norway, SoftBank's willingness to bet billions on an unproven category is itself a signal: if a deal closes, it would validate home humanoid robots as a serious commercial category rather than a research curiosity, and could accelerate investment across the supply chain of actuators, sensors and on-device AI chips that any general-purpose home robot depends on.