SoftBank plans new robotics firm to automate data center construction

As technology companies race to build out the physical infrastructure required to drive the automation boom, Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank reportedly plans to create a new company designed to automate the creation of that infrastructure. According to a report from the Financial Times, SoftBank is creating a new business called Roze AI. The Wall Street Journal reports that Roze AI would seek to make data center construction in the U.S. more efficient. The new venture would attempt to achieve this efficiency by deploying autonomous robots to help build server farms, directly targeting the physical bottlenecks of the ongoing computing boom.

In an unusual move for a newly formed venture, SoftBank is already preparing the company for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Wall Street Journal writes that some executives want the IPO to happen by the second half of 2026. According to the Financial Times, the desired valuation for the public debut might be $100 billion. The Financial Times notes that some inside SoftBank have expressed skepticism “about the valuation and the proposed timeline for an IPO.” The proposed timeline and valuation would represent an exceptionally rapid path to the public markets for a newly created robotics business.

The initiative aligns with a broader trend of technology companies attempting to modernize physical industries through automation. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has co-founded Project Prometheus, a startup focused on modernizing industrial sectors using AI. Project Prometheus plans to buy firms in major industrial sectors and modernize them using AI, reflecting a growing interest among tech leaders in applying machine learning to heavy industry.

However, SoftBank’s history with robotics and automation startups includes notable high-profile failures. The conglomerate previously backed Zume, an AI-driven pizza delivery startup, into which it sunk hundreds of millions of dollars. Zume ultimately went out of business in 2023. While Zume attempted to automate food preparation and delivery, Roze AI is targeting the physical construction of the server farms that power modern software.

Why it matters

SoftBank’s move highlights the massive capital flowing into physical infrastructure automation, though the ambitious valuation and timeline face internal scrutiny.