July 24 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group (9984.T) is forming a joint venture with warehouse automation company Symbotic (SYM.O) to build AI-powered warehouses that will be majority owned by the Japanese technology investor, the companies said on Monday.
The unit has also signed a contract to buy AI-powered systems from Symbotic that will be worth $7.5 billion in the next six years.
Based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Symbotic provides robotics warehouse automation solutions and counts Walmart (WMT.N) as its major backer and customer.
The Japanese company will have a 65% stake in GreenBox, with Symbotic owning the rest.
For fiscal year 2022, Symbotic reported revenue of $593.3 million, up 136% year over year, with a loss of $139.1 million.
Persons:
Symbotic, Rick Cohen, upping, Masayoshi Son, Zaheer Kachwala, Krystal Hu, Shailesh Kuber, Anil D'Silva, Cynthia Osterman
Organizations:
SoftBank, Systems, SoftBank Group Corp, Walmart, JV, Tokyo bourse, Thomson
Locations:
SoftBank, Wilmington , Massachusetts, Tokyo, GreenBox