The News
Walmart will spend about $6 billion over several years to expand warehouse robotics maker Symbotic’s systems in 25 US regional distribution centers.
Walmart is also putting $125 million into Symbotic’s next generation of racking.
Walmart can’t cut the $6 billion without Symbotic’s consent, outside the contract’s termination rights.
The details
The money pays for robots that pick single items, a step past the case-handling systems Symbotic already runs in Walmart’s regional DCs. Today those systems store full cases and build store-ready pallets. The new deal adds two systems to that work.
BreakPack pulls single items out of cases for store orders.
SymMicro fills online orders.
This is the third time Walmart has widened its work with Symbotic since the two started in 2021 with 25 regional DCs. In 2022, they expanded the plan to all 42 regional DCs over “eight-plus years.”
In 2025, Symbotic bought Walmart’s in-store robotics unit for $200 million.
In the same deal, Walmart agreed to pay $520 million and buy systems for 400 store pickup centers.
The robots also change the work inside DCs that each employ about 1,000 people. Walmart’s CFO John David Rainey has said automation roughly quadrupled how much a DC can process with the same number of workers. In 2023, Walmart said it planned to keep or grow its workforce, with fewer physically demanding jobs and more higher-paying ones.
“We add as much as 10 years to their career because of the less manual-intensive nature of this work,” Rainey said in 2024.
Walmart cut about 2,000 jobs at e-commerce warehouses in 2023. A spokesperson said those cuts were unrelated to its automation plans.
The new contract covers only the dry-goods side of Walmart’s buildings. It applies to the “ambient areas” of distribution and fulfillment centers in the US and select markets in the Americas. Frozen and chilled space stays outside it.
The contract sets what Walmart owes Symbotic if it buys fewer systems than it committed to.
Walmart pays Symbotic fees for licenses, system support, operations, maintenance and spare parts.
Alongside the robots, Walmart is still building new DCs, including a $400 million one near San Antonio. The 744,433-square-foot building is planned for Cibolo, Texas. A state filing shows groundbreaking in February and completion by Aug 1, 2029.
Walmart is also planning a 900,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Stockton, Calif, and a 1.5 million-square-foot one in Georgia.
CEO John Furner said in February that supply chain spending will “probably peak this year and next year.”
Worth noting
Walmart fell short of the automation targets it set in 2023. It aimed to serve about 65% of its stores from automated DCs by the end of fiscal 2026, and to automate about 55% of its e-commerce fulfillment center volume. At the end of that year, about 60% of stores got some freight from automated DCs. Roughly half of fulfillment center volume was automated.
What peers are doing
Kroger closed three of its eight Ocado robotic fulfillment centers in January. It took a $2.6 billion charge. CEO Ron Sargent said stores make more sense than central warehouses for most delivery orders.
What’s next
Walmart breaks ground in Cibolo in February.
(Photo: Walmart)
