SoftBank Launches 'Roze AI' to Build Data Centers With Robots, Eyes U.S. IPO

SoftBank Group is spinning out an independent entity called "Roze AI" that builds and operates data centers using autonomous robots, and is pursuing a U.S. stock market listing, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal reported simultaneously on the 29th (local time).

Roze AI is not a simple AI investment fund — it is a tangible infrastructure operating company. Autonomous robots physically construct server farms to cut labor costs and build times, and upon completion, the company leases capacity to big tech players such as Google and Microsoft. The target is to develop up to 10GW of data center capacity across U.S. states including Texas and Ohio, with total investment potentially reaching $500 billion. Both Google and Microsoft have already signaled interest in securing capacity.

ABB Robotics Acquisition as the Hardware Foundation

The core hardware backbone of Roze AI is ABB's robotics division, which SoftBank agreed to acquire last October for $5.375 billion. The 7,000-person organization supplies industrial robots to global manufacturers including BMW, with the acquisition expected to close in mid-to-late 2026. ABB Robotics will serve as Roze AI's construction robot supply chain.

$100B Target Valuation at IPO

The target IPO valuation is up to $100 billion. The listing venue is the United States, with a target timeline of the second half of 2026. An analyst day is planned for July 2026 at the Texas data center. Chairman Masayoshi Son is personally leading the initiative, and the structure is expected to mirror the Arm IPO — SoftBank retaining a controlling stake while floating a portion to the public.

Son's Financing Puzzle

To understand the Roze AI IPO, one must also consider SoftBank Group's financial pressures. SoftBank has deployed $41 billion to secure an 11% stake in OpenAI and is in talks to commit an additional $30 billion. It also borrowed $40 billion through a six-bank consortium including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, using its OpenAI stake as collateral, and is currently in discussions for an additional $1 billion loan. The Roze AI IPO is a strategic liquidity vehicle to recoup capital deployed across its massive AI investment portfolio.

Chairman Son describes this architecture as a vertically integrated AI empire: "Arm (chip design) → OpenAI (software brain) → Stargate Project (data centers) → Roze AI (automated physical infrastructure construction)." He frames it as an infrastructure buildout designed to realize ASI (Artificial Superintelligence) — which he describes as being "10,000 times smarter than humans."

Internal Skepticism Remains

The FT noted that skepticism exists even within SoftBank, with some internally questioning whether the valuation target is overly ambitious and the IPO timeline too aggressive. Roze AI is a newly established entity with no meaningful revenue track record. Three external risks also loom: market volatility in the wake of the Iran conflict; fragmentation of investor demand amid a 2026 mega-IPO rush involving OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic; and the credibility overhang from SoftBank's history of overvaluing WeWork.