A bankruptcy plan announced this week will transfer iRobot's technology and consumer data to a Chinese firm, months after U.S. regulators blocked Amazon's attempt to acquire the Massachusetts-based robotics company. The $190 million sale to Picea Robotics comes after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan led opposition to Amazon's $1.7 billion merger proposal.
National Security Concerns Over Data Transfer
iRobot, founded by MIT scientists in 1990, manufactures Roomba vacuums that map home interiors. Helen Greiner, the company's cofounder, expressed alarm that sensitive consumer data will now reside with a Chinese entity. "I do wish that the data and everything stayed in this country," she told Bloomberg, noting the lack of public concern about Beijing's potential access to domestic surveillance capabilities.
The transaction follows iRobot's layoffs of 350 workers at its Bedford, Mass., facilities last year. Sen. Warren previously criticized the company's outsourcing practices, stating "iRobot's problems started long ago when they started shipping jobs over to China." She has not commented on the Picea deal but has broadly opposed U.S. tech transfers to China, including NVIDIA's chip sales.
Political Fallout From the Blocked Merger
The FTC under Lina Khan launched a review of Amazon's proposed acquisition in September 2022, following pressure from Sen. Warren and advocacy groups like Fight for the Future. Critics argued the deal would expand Amazon's "surveillance powers" through home-mapping data. The European Commission joined the opposition in August 2023, and the merger collapsed in January 2024.
House Republicans, led by Oversight Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), accused the FTC of coordinating with foreign regulators to undermine American companies. "The FTC appears to have actively coordinated with a foreign authority to block a merger which could have saved American jobs," Comer wrote. Sen. Warren and Lina Khan did not respond to requests for comment.