SoftBank Group last Monday, July 24, announced the creation of a joint venture with Symbotic, which was named GreenBox Systems LLC.
This enterprise, which history is at the initial stage and has no episodes yet, except for the statement of the very fact of its existence, offers a WaaS solution. This firm is aimed at interacting with companies that need storage facilities, but do not have the financial resources necessary to purchase real estate of the appropriate functional category.
Back in March of this year, Nimble announced plans to offer similar solutions. The company stated its intention to launch its outsourcing automated warehouses.
GreenBox will be ordering Symbotic systems for six years. The first order will be placed in fiscal year 2024. Within the framework of the joint venture, a large-scale network of warehouses will be created, which in terms of prevalence and quantitative indicators will exceed similar values of the current configuration of the basic Symbotic system.
Symbotic expects that the annual profit resulting from the use of GreenBox software, spare parts, and services will amount to more than $500 million. This level will be reached after the commissioning of all systems of the enterprise. In most cases, all the constituent elements of the functional structure Symbotic start working within two years from the moment of the decision to launch the project. Robots with a total value of about $7.5 billion will also be purchased from this company as part of the launch of the joint venture.
Vikas J. Parekh from SoftBank said that GreenBox uses the powerful potential of artificial intelligence and other technologies involved in supply chains. Also, according to him, the joint venture provides access to automation to a larger number of customers.
Within the framework of cooperation with Symbotic, GreenBox will provide enterprises and companies with intelligent, optimized, and scaled warehousing solutions. Also, in this case, there will be no need for large capital expenditures.
SoftBank’s share in the joint venture is 65%, and the rest is owned by Symbotic.
This year, SoftBank announced that it had acquired 17.8 million shares of Symbotic, which is also actively interacting with its other partners, including Walmart, which has deployed the firm’s systems in its centers in the United States.
As we have reported earlier, SoftBank Backs Robot Startup.
Serhii Mikhailov
Serhii’s track record of study and work spans six years at the Faculty of Philology and eight years in the media, during which he has developed a deep understanding of various aspects of the industry and honed his writing skills; his areas of expertise include fintech, payments, cryptocurrency, and financial services, and he is constantly keeping a close eye on the latest developments and innovations in these fields, as he believes that they will have a significant impact on the future direction of the economy as a whole.
