Google is advancing into physical AI by acquiring a well-known robotics software platform. Intrinsic, an Alphabet-owned company that develops AI models and software to make industrial robots more accessible, is joining Google. The companies announced that Intrinsic will remain a separate entity within Google but will collaborate closely with Google DeepMind, utilizing Google’s Gemini AI models and cloud services.
Alphabet has not disclosed information about funding or purchase price. Intrinsic became an independent Alphabet-owned company in 2021 after five years of development within Alphabet’s X, the moonshot research division, joining the ranks of other companies like Waymo and Wing. Wendy Tan White has been Intrinsic’s CEO since its spinout in 2021.
Since then, Intrinsic has been active. It acquired Vicarious, another robotics software company, in April 2022. Vicarious had previously raised around $250 million from investors, including Jeff Bezos. A few months later, Intrinsic acquired several divisions of Open Robotics, a non-profit organization in the robotics industry.
In January 2023, despite its rapid growth, Intrinsic laid off 20% of its workforce. Shortly after, the company introduced its first product, Flowstate, a software platform for developing robotics workflows targeted at developers with limited robotics experience. This aligns with Intrinsic’s mission to make robotics more accessible.
The company has since improved its technology, enhancing simulation capabilities, and launched the Intrinsic Vision AI model in late 2025. Intrinsic announced a joint venture with electronics manufacturer Foxconn in October 2025 to collaborate on intelligent robots to automate electronics manufacturing fully.
The company is leveraging closer collaboration with Google’s AI capabilities to achieve its goals. “With Google’s AI and infrastructure, we’ll unlock physical AI’s promise for more manufacturing businesses and developers, fundamentally shifting production and enabling advanced manufacturing,” Tan White stated in a blog post.
This move aligns with Google’s interests, as many tech leaders, such as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, see physical AI as the next significant step in AI models’ commercialization and advancement.