SoftBank is creating a robotics company that builds data centers — and already eyeing a $100B IPO

Tech companies are racing to build out infrastructure that can further drive the automation boom. Now, Japanese multinational SoftBank reportedly plans to create a new company designed to automate the creation of that infrastructure. SoftBank is putting together a new business called Roze AI, the Financial Timesoriginally reported. Roze would seek to make data center construction in the U.S. more “efficient,” the Wall Street Journalreports. It would do that by — among other things — deploying autonomous robots to help build server farms. In an interesting twist, the conglomerate is already prepping Roze for an IPO, and some executives want it to happen by the second half of 2026, the Journal writes. The desired valuation might be $100 billion, FT reported. TechCrunch reached out to SoftBank for more information. Other recent ventures have also envisioned using AI and automation to make the industrial sector more efficient. For example, Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos hasco-founded a startupcalled Project Prometheus that plans to buy firms in major industrial sectors and modernize them using AI. SoftBank has been known to back some dark horse startups (it notably sunkhundreds of millions of dollars into Zume, an AI-driven pizza delivery startup that went belly up in 2023). The FT notes that some inside SoftBank have expressed skepticism “about the valuation and the proposed timeline for an IPO.”