Softbank to buy two robotic cos

San Francisco, June 9: SoftBank Group said it would buy two firms that build walking robots from Google’s parent firm, Alphabet, adding to the Japanese company's growing artificial intelligence portfolio.

SoftBank said it would buy Boston Dynamics and Tokyo-based Schaft, which design and manufacture robots that simulate human movement, but did not disclose the terms of the transactions.

Shares of the company rose as much as 7.9 per cent after the deal was announced, hitting a 17year high.

“Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the information revolution, and Marc (Raibert) and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear technology leaders in advanced dynamic robots,” SoftBank Group chairman Masayoshi Son said on Friday.

Raibert is CEO and founder of Boston Dynamics.

SoftBank has embarked on an aggressive acquisition campaign to boost its research and development capabilities.

The group is backing the $93 billion Vision Fund, the world's largest private equity fund that seeks to invest in technologies expected to grow significantly in the near future, such as robotics and AI.

Mr Son describes the fund as essential for setting up SoftBank for a data “gold rush” which he expects to happen as the economy becomes increasingly digitised.

Boston Dynamics and Schaft could eventually be vested with the Vision Fund, a person familiar with the deal told Reuters. — Reuters