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Cognex Is Paying About $600M for RealSense Fourteen Months After Intel Spun It Out
Cognex announced on September 22 a definitive agreement to acquire RealSense for roughly $500M in cash from its balance sheet, plus a three-year $56.5M retention program and about $50M in RSUs, making it the largest acquisition in Cognex's history. RealSense, spun out of Intel in July 2025, is expected to generate $80M-$90M in 2026 revenue, more than 50% growth, and Cognex sizes the robotic perception market at ~$600M today growing 25%+ annually to ~$1.6B by 2030. This is the Physical AI corollary to the software story this beat tracks: the perception layer that agents need to act in the world is consolidating into incumbents, not staying independent.
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