Agility Robotics to List on Nasdaq; Foxconn Leads Private Placement Investment

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) U.S. humanoid robotics company Agility Robotics is set to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the United States. Agility has already secured strategic investments from NVIDIA, Amazon, Softbank, and Foxconn Group. Industry sources revealed to CNA today that Foxconn had made an early investment in Agility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a press release issued on June 24th U.S. time, Agility announced its plan to merge with Churchill Capital Corp XI for a public listing. The transaction is expected to raise over $620 million in gross proceeds, including approximately $420 million in cash from Churchill XI's trust account and about $200 million through a private investment in public equity (PIPE). This private placement was led by Foxconn Group, which is also an existing investor in Agility.

Taiwan's Yowant Group's Canon and Yowant Asia had previously participated in Agility's investment. Yowant Group stated that in 2025, Yowant Asia and Canon will invest a total of $10 million in Agility Robotics. In conjunction with future capital increases upon listing, Yowant Asia, Canon, and the newly investing Yowant Innovation are expected to increase their investment by approximately another $10 million, bringing the cumulative total investment to $20 million.

Foxconn Group is actively expanding its humanoid robotics business and maintains close cooperation with NVIDIA. In March of this year, Foxconn showcased new-generation humanoid robot application solutions for industrial environments in collaboration with NVIDIA at the NVIDIA GTC conference. Additionally, a medical hand-washing collaborative robot, utilizing voice and sensor fusion to deliver surgical instruments, is being developed with solutions to shorten deployment times through integrated simulation and physical deployment.

Foxconn and NVIDIA are collaborating to develop industrial-grade AI humanoid robots. This includes wheeled robots suitable for long-term operation in flat production line environments, and legged robots designed for complex factory terrains.

Foxconn is targeting the smart factory applications for humanoid robots. In November last year, Foxconn announced the establishment of a joint venture with Intrinsic to build future AI robot factories. In October last year, Foxconn also revealed its collaboration with NVIDIA at its Houston plant in the U.S. to build a smart manufacturing factory, deploying NVIDIA model-driven humanoid robots for the production of AI servers.

In June of this year, Foxconn announced the signing of a memorandum of strategic cooperation with its invested subsidiary, Sharp Corporation of Japan, to develop growth industries such as AI, energy, and robotics.

Global tech giants are actively pursuing opportunities in the humanoid robotics market. In addition to NVIDIA, Tesla, Amazon, and Hyundai's Boston Dynamics, companies such as OpenAI's investee 1X Technologies, AI robotics startup Figure, Israeli robotics startup Mentee Robotics, and German robotics startup NEURA Robotics are actively developing humanoid robots.

Furthermore, Meta, Apple, Samsung, LG, and Doosan Robotics are also actively seeking to gain an early advantage in humanoid robotics. Chinese manufacturers including UBTECH Robotics, Unitree Robotics, Fourier Intelligence, CloudMinds, Xiaomi, XPeng, Huawei, iFlytek, and Zhurong AI are aggressively entering the humanoid robot market. (Editor: Chang Chun-mao) 1150625

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