Google is deepening its push into physical AI by bringing robotics software firm Intrinsic closer into its ecosystem. On Wednesday, the companies announced that Alphabet-owned Intrinsic will join Google, operating as a distinct entity while collaborating closely with Google DeepMind and leveraging Google’s Gemini AI models and cloud infrastructure. Alphabet did not disclose funding details or any purchase price related to the move.
Intrinsic’s journey began inside Alphabet X — Alphabet’s moonshot factory — where it spent five years in development before spinning out as an independent Alphabet company in 2021. It followed a path similar to other X graduates such as Waymo and Wing. Since its spinout, Intrinsic has been led by CEO Wendy Tan White.
The company wasted no time expanding. In April 2022, it acquired robotics software firm Vicarious, which had previously raised about $250 million from investors including Jeff Bezos. Later that year, Intrinsic also purchased several for-profit divisions of Open Robotics, strengthening its foothold in robotics software and hardware platforms. Despite this aggressive growth, the company laid off 20% of its workforce in January 2023 as part of internal restructuring.
Not long after, Intrinsic introduced its first major product, Flowstate — a software platform designed to help developers create robotics workflows without requiring deep robotics expertise. The product aligned with Intrinsic’s broader mission: making industrial robotics more accessible and easier to deploy. Since then, the company has refined its technology, enhanced simulation capabilities, and launched its Intrinsic Vision AI model in late 2025 to further improve robotic perception and intelligence.
In October 2025, Intrinsic announced a joint venture with electronics manufacturer Foxconn to develop general-purpose intelligent robots aimed at transforming electronics manufacturing, with the long-term vision of full factory automation. Now, with deeper integration into Google’s AI infrastructure, Intrinsic aims to accelerate that vision. Tan White noted that combining Google’s AI expertise with Intrinsic’s robotics platform could unlock physical AI for a much broader range of manufacturing businesses and developers, fundamentally reshaping production economics and operations.
The move reflects a broader industry shift. Tech leaders like Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm have repeatedly described physical AI — where intelligent software powers machines in the real world — as the next major frontier. By tightening its grip on robotics software, Google appears to be positioning itself for that next phase of AI evolution, where algorithms don’t just generate text and images, but power factories and reshape global manufacturing.
