SFTBY
Son’s next shiny object
Masayoshi Son is back in deal mode. SoftBank is reportedly negotiating to buy a majority stake in 1X Technologies, the humanoid robot maker backed by OpenAI, at a valuation of roughly $6 billion.
That’s a pretty wild jump from where 1X was a few years ago, and it tells you exactly how hot the humanoid robot theme has become. Investors aren’t just buying hardware anymore; they’re buying the dream that your future vacuum cleaner might have legs.
The hype is real, but the robots still have a ways to go
1X’s NEO robot is already taking paid reservations, but it hasn’t reached customers yet. The company says its first-year production capacity of 10,000 units got snapped up fast, and U.S. deliveries are slated to start in 2026 from its California manufacturing base.
A few caveats, because robots apparently still need a little supervision:
- early units won’t be fully autonomous
- some tasks may require remote help from human “Experts”
- the company’s current scale is tiny next to Tesla’s long-term Optimus ambitions
Why investors should care
This is more than a rich guy buying a shiny toy. If SoftBank takes control, it adds another heavyweight backer to the race to make humanoid robots commercially real — and fast.
Tesla is still chasing its consumer Optimus launch, while 1X is already taking reservations. That doesn’t mean 1X wins the race, but it does mean the “robots are coming someday” story is starting to look a lot less theoretical.
Big picture: SoftBank may be betting that humanoid robots are about to move from sci-fi demo to actual business. Whether that’s visionary or just expensive optimism depends on how quickly these things can do more than stand there and look futuristic.