SoftBank is in talks to take a majority stake in 1X Technologies at a valuation of roughly $6 billion, Humanoids Daily reported on 27 August, citing The Information. That is below the $10 billion the company sought in September 2025. The talks come while 1X has not publicly confirmed a single delivery of its NEO robot.
Key takeaways
- Valuation under discussion: about $6 billion for a majority stake, meaning control of the company
- 1X’s earlier ask: $10 billion in September 2025, never confirmed to have closed
- NEO preorders at $20,000 sold out a full year of production capacity in five days
- Late August 2026 — no publicly confirmed NEO deliveries
- Unresolved: whether OpenAI is exiting its position
Six Billion Instead of Ten
Behind the talks is Masayoshi Son’s investment firm. The six billion is for control of the company, not a minority round.
Humanoids Daily frames the move as part of SoftBank rebuilding its portfolio around “brains and bodies” — divesting Boston Dynamics, acquiring the ABB Robotics division and backing Skild AI. 1X Technologies supplies the consumer layer: a compliant robot designed for the home, not the factory floor.
NEO: Orders Yes, Deliveries No
Demand is not the problem. Preorders at $20,000 exhausted a full year of production capacity in five days. Execution is the problem. The order page still asks for a $200 deposit and gives no ship date, and the FAQ question “when do deliveries begin” goes unanswered.
| Spec | NEO — manufacturer data |
|---|---|
| Height | 5′6″ (168 cm) |
| Weight | 66 lb (30 kg) |
| Payload | 154 lb lift / 55 lb carry |
| Battery | 842 Wh, about 4 h runtime |
| Compute | 1X NEO Cortex (NVIDIA Jetson Thor) |
| Cameras | 2× 8.85 MP stereo fisheye, 90 Hz |
| Speed | 1.4 m/s walk, up to 6.2 m/s run |
Compute runs on the 1X NEO Cortex built around the Jetson Thor module. This is a product spec sheet, not a prototype one — which makes the missing delivery date stand out more.
A Reference Point
Three days earlier, on 24 August, XPENG Robotics closed a round of over $900 million at a $6.3 billion post-money?Post-money valuation: The value of a company counted after the freshly invested capital is added. The pre-money valuation is lower by the size of the round. valuation. The same value bracket, but XPENG is targeting mass production of its IRON humanoid in late 2026 and has a carmaker behind it.
Why It Matters
Six billion for control of a home-humanoid maker is a test of how much the market pays for a promise before the first delivery. A deal below earlier expectations would signal that investors are starting to discount execution risk, not just market size. For 1X, SoftBank capital solves the problem of scaling production. The cost is losing independence before the company has proven it can ship.
What’s Next
- Neither side has confirmed the talks officially — the report comes from The Information alone
- The percentage on offer has not been disclosed, nor whether OpenAI is selling its stake
- The first confirmed NEO delivery will test the 2026 schedule 1X committed to
