# Hexagon (company)

> Source: https://aiwiki.ai/wiki/hexagon
> Updated: 2026-06-25
> Categories: Humanoid Robots, Robotics Companies
> From AI Wiki (https://aiwiki.ai), a free encyclopedia of artificial intelligence. Quote with attribution.

| Hexagon AB |
| --- |
| General information |
| **Full name** | Hexagon AB |
| **Founded** | 1975 (as Eken Industri och Handel AB); incorporated as Hexagon AB in October 1993 |
| **Headquarters** | Stockholm, Sweden |
| **Industry** | Industrial technology, Measurement, [Robotics](/wiki/robotics) |
| **Key people** | Anders Svensson (President and CEO, from July 2025); Ola Rollen (former CEO, Chairman) |
| **Revenue** | EUR 5.4 billion (2024); $5.5 billion (2023) |
| **Employees** | ~24,800 (2024) |
| **Products** | Measurement technology, geospatial systems, CAD/CAM software, [humanoid robots](/wiki/humanoid_robots) |
| **Stock exchange** | Nasdaq Stockholm (HEXA B) |
| **Website** | [hexagon.com](https://hexagon.com/) |

**Hexagon AB** is a Swedish multinational industrial technology company headquartered in Stockholm that builds measurement, sensor, geospatial, and software systems and, since 2025, industrial [humanoid robots](/wiki/humanoid_robots). Publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange under the ticker HEXA B, Hexagon reported net sales of approximately EUR 5.4 billion in 2024 and employs roughly 24,800 people across 50 countries.[1][2] The company is best known in AI and robotics circles for [AEON](/wiki/hexagon_aeon), the industrial humanoid robot it launched in June 2025 in partnership with [NVIDIA](/wiki/nvidia).[3]

Hexagon operates through multiple divisions including Manufacturing Intelligence, Geosystems, Autonomous Solutions, Asset Lifecycle Intelligence, Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial, and a Robotics division created in 2025. The company is a global leader in measurement technology, geospatial systems, and industrial software, combining decades of expertise in precision metrology and spatial intelligence with AI-driven automation.[1][2]

Hexagon's transformation from a diversified conglomerate into a focused technology company was driven by financier Melker Schorling, who acquired a controlling stake in 1998, and Ola Rollen, who served as CEO from 2000 to 2022. Under Rollen's leadership, Hexagon completed more than 170 acquisitions between 2000 and 2022, including landmark deals for Brown and Sharpe, [Leica Geosystems](/wiki/leica_geosystems), Intergraph, and MSC Software.[1]

## What is Hexagon?

Hexagon AB is an industrial technology company whose products measure, model, and automate the physical world: coordinate measuring machines and 3D scanners for manufacturing quality, survey instruments and [LiDAR](/wiki/lidar) for geospatial work, GNSS positioning for autonomous machines, simulation and enterprise-asset software, and, most recently, the [AEON](/wiki/hexagon_aeon) industrial humanoid robot. The company describes its mission as putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality, and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector, and mobility applications.[2]

With roughly 24,800 employees and net sales near EUR 5.4 billion in 2024, Hexagon ranks among the world's largest industrial-technology firms.[1][2] Its largest shareholder remains the investment vehicle of the Melker Schorling family, which has held a controlling interest since 1998, and the company trades on Nasdaq Stockholm as HEXA B.[1]

## What does Hexagon do?

Hexagon's technology portfolio spans the full lifecycle of physical assets and manufactured products. Core expertise areas include precision measurement (from nanometer-scale metrology to kilometer-scale surveying), spatial data capture and processing ([LiDAR](/wiki/lidar), photogrammetry, GNSS positioning), industrial simulation and digital twins, enterprise asset management, and, increasingly, autonomous industrial systems including [humanoid robotics](/wiki/humanoid_robots).

The company serves customers in manufacturing (automotive, aerospace, electronics), construction and infrastructure, mining and agriculture, government and public safety, energy and utilities, and defense and intelligence. Hexagon's products are used in nearly every country, with major operations across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.[1][2]

## History

### Origins and early years (1970 to 1998)

The predecessor company of Hexagon AB was founded on August 29, 1970. The company traces its formal origins to September 1975 with the founding of Eken Industri och Handel AB in Stockholm, Sweden. During its first decades, the company operated as a sprawling conglomerate with investments in diverse industries including seafood imports, vehicle hydraulics, and day-care centers.[1]

After merging with its parent company, Investment AB Eken, in 1987 and completing several acquisitions, the company was formally incorporated as Hexagon AB (originally Hexagon Aktiebolag) in October 1993. Through the 1990s, Hexagon remained a diversified holding company without a clear strategic focus.[1]

### Transformation under Melker Schorling and Ola Rollen (2000 to 2022)

The decisive turning point came in 1998 when Swedish financier Melker Schorling acquired a controlling stake in Hexagon. In 2000, Schorling appointed Ola Rollen, former CEO of Kanthal, as the new CEO of Hexagon AB. Rollen would lead the company for over two decades, transforming it from a conglomerate into one of the world's leading industrial technology companies through a sustained program of strategic acquisitions.[1][2]

Major acquisitions under Rollen's leadership included:

| Year | Acquisition | Price | Significance |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2001 | Brown and Sharpe | ~$180 million | Metrological tools and coordinate measuring machines |
| 2005 | [Leica Geosystems](/wiki/leica_geosystems) | Undisclosed (won bidding against Danaher) | Survey, geospatial, and measurement instruments |
| 2010 | Intergraph | $2.1 billion | Geospatial and enterprise software |
| 2017 | MSC Software | $834 million | Simulation and virtual testing software |
| 2021 | Infor EAM | $800M cash + $1.95B in Hexagon shares | Enterprise asset management (gave Koch Industries 5% stake) |

By the time Rollen stepped down as CEO at the end of 2022 (becoming Chairman of the Board), Hexagon had completed more than 170 acquisitions and had transformed into a focused industrial technology company with particular strengths in measurement technology, positioning systems, [CAD](/wiki/computer_aided_design)/CAM software, geographic information systems ([GIS](/wiki/geographic_information_system)), and enterprise software.[1]

In 2016, Rollen was detained by Norwegian authorities over insider trading allegations unrelated to Hexagon. He was acquitted in 2018 and again in 2019 by the Oslo appeals court.[1]

### Leadership transition (2023 to 2025)

Paolo Guglielmini, former COO, succeeded Rollen as President and CEO at the start of 2023. On July 20, 2025, Anders Svensson took over as President and CEO, marking the latest leadership transition in the company's ongoing evolution.[1]

### Octave spin-off (2025 to 2026)

In 2025, Hexagon announced plans to separate into two companies by spinning off its Asset Lifecycle Intelligence and Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial divisions, along with the ETQ and Bricsys businesses, into a new entity called Octave. Octave would operate as a pure-play software and SaaS company focused on helping customers make smarter, more data-driven decisions.

Collectively, the businesses destined for Octave had approximately 7,200 employees in 45 countries as of December 31, 2024, and revenues of approximately 1.448 billion euros with an adjusted operating margin of approximately 31%.[4][5] On March 24, 2026, Hexagon's Board resolved to propose the distribution and listing of Octave Intelligence plc, under which ten (10) shares in Hexagon would entitle holders to one (1) share of the corresponding share class in Octave.[5] Hexagon's Annual General Meeting approved the distribution on April 24, 2026, and the separation completed on May 28, 2026: Octave's class B ordinary shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in New York, while Swedish depository receipts (SDRs) representing those shares listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.[5]

### Entry into humanoid robotics (2025)

In early 2025, Hexagon announced the creation of a dedicated Robotics division. On June 17, 2025, at the flagship Hexagon LIVE Global event in Las Vegas, the company launched [AEON](/wiki/hexagon_aeon), an industrial humanoid robot developed in partnership with [NVIDIA](/wiki/nvidia), Microsoft, and maxon. AEON represented a significant strategic expansion for Hexagon, combining the company's decades of expertise in precision measurement and spatial intelligence with advanced robotics and AI capabilities.[3][6]

Arnaud Robert, President of Hexagon's Robotics division, framed the launch as a response to direct industry demand: "Our goal with AEON was to design an intelligent, autonomous humanoid that addresses the real-world challenges industrial leaders have shared with us over the past months."[6] Ola Rollen, Chairman of the Board, called AEON "a state-of-the-art, industrially bespoke humanoid."[3]

## What is the Hexagon AEON robot?

[AEON](/wiki/hexagon_aeon) is Hexagon's industrial humanoid robot, launched in June 2025 as the first product of the company's new Robotics division. It is purpose-built for industrial work such as manipulation, machine tending, part inspection, reality capture, and operator support, rather than for consumer or general-purpose use.[3][6]

| Specification | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| **Height** | 165 cm |
| **Weight** | 60 kg |
| **Degrees of freedom** | 34 |
| **Locomotion** | Wheeled-leg design (two legs ending in wheels) |
| **Max speed** | 8.6 km/h (2.4 m/s) |
| **Payload** | 15 kg (short-term); ~8 kg continuous |
| **Sensors** | 22 integrated sensors (12 cameras, [LiDAR](/wiki/lidar), time-of-flight, infrared, SLAM cameras, microphones, force/torque) |
| **Battery life** | ~4 hours (hot-swappable batteries) |
| **Onboard compute** | [NVIDIA](/wiki/nvidia) Jetson Orin (planned upgrade to NVIDIA IGX Thor) |
| **Key partners** | NVIDIA, Microsoft, maxon |

AEON combines advanced locomotion, sensor fusion, and AI-based spatial intelligence to address labor shortages and industrial use cases. Rather than walking on feet, it rolls on a wheeled-leg base, with two legs that each end in a wheel so it can travel across flat surfaces faster than walking and step when needed. The robot leverages NVIDIA's full-stack robotics and simulation platforms, including NVIDIA Omniverse, Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and the Isaac GR00T N1.5 foundation model, for training. Through this simulation-first approach, AEON mastered core locomotion skills in two to three weeks rather than the five to six months typically required.[3][6]

Deepu Talla, NVIDIA's vice president of robotics and edge AI, said the launch reflected a broader inflection in the field: "The age of general-purpose robotics has arrived, due to technological advances in simulation and physical AI."[6]

### Pilot deployments

Hexagon's Robotics division began piloting AEON with industrial partners across applications such as manipulation, machine tending, part inspection, and reality capture. Schaeffler and Pilatus Aircraft were named as early pilot customers, and Schaeffler committed to deploying up to 1,000 units by 2032.[3] In December 2025, BMW Group began an initial AEON deployment at its Leipzig plant in Germany, the first humanoid robot deployed in production in Germany, with broader pilot integration planned for 2026.[7][8] Milan Nedeljkovic, the BMW AG board member for production, described the rationale: "The symbiosis of engineering expertise and artificial intelligence opens up entirely new possibilities in production."[8] Target deployment sectors include automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, and logistics.[3]

## What are Hexagon's divisions?

Hexagon operates through several major business divisions:

| Division | Focus area |
| --- | --- |
| **Manufacturing Intelligence** | Coordinate measuring machines, [3D scanning](/wiki/3d_scanning), quality inspection, metrology software |
| **Geosystems** | Survey instruments, [LiDAR](/wiki/lidar), reality capture, positioning systems ([Leica Geosystems](/wiki/leica_geosystems)) |
| **Autonomous Solutions** | Positioning technology, GNSS receivers, machine control, autonomous solutions |
| **Asset Lifecycle Intelligence** | Enterprise asset management, predictive maintenance (Infor EAM) |
| **Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial** | Public safety, utility management, [GIS](/wiki/geographic_information_system) (Intergraph heritage) |
| **Robotics** | [Humanoid robots](/wiki/humanoid_robots), autonomous industrial solutions ([AEON](/wiki/hexagon_aeon)) |

Following the 2026 Octave separation, the Asset Lifecycle Intelligence and Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial divisions (together with ETQ and Bricsys) were distributed into the independent company Octave Intelligence plc.[5]

## What are Hexagon's key acquisitions?

### Brown and Sharpe

Brown and Sharpe, acquired in late 2001 for approximately $180 million, was Hexagon's first major acquisition under Ola Rollen's leadership and signaled the company's strategic pivot toward measurement technology. Founded in 1833 in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown and Sharpe was one of the oldest and most respected names in precision measurement and metrology, producing coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), micrometers, calipers, and other high-precision instruments. The acquisition gave Hexagon immediate credibility and market share in the industrial metrology market, and Brown and Sharpe's product lines became a cornerstone of what would grow into Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence division.[1]

### Leica Geosystems

[Leica Geosystems](/wiki/leica_geosystems), acquired in 2005 after a competitive bidding process against Danaher, is one of Hexagon's most important subsidiaries. Originally part of the Leica Camera heritage, Leica Geosystems is a global leader in survey instruments, total stations, [GPS](/wiki/global_positioning_system)/GNSS receivers, laser scanners, and [LiDAR](/wiki/lidar) systems. The company's products are used by surveyors, construction companies, mining operations, and law enforcement agencies worldwide. The acquisition gave Hexagon a dominant position in the geospatial and surveying markets and provided the foundation for its Geosystems division. Leica Geosystems remains headquartered in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, and operates as a semi-autonomous subsidiary within the Hexagon group.[1]

### Intergraph

The 2010 acquisition of Intergraph for $2.1 billion was Hexagon's largest deal and transformed the company's software capabilities. Intergraph, founded in 1969 in Huntsville, Alabama, was a pioneer in computer-aided design, geographic information systems, and public safety software. The company's products served government agencies, utility companies, transportation authorities, and defense organizations across dozens of countries. The acquisition brought significant software capabilities in public safety dispatch and records management, utility network management, transportation planning, and defense intelligence. Intergraph's technology became the core of Hexagon's Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial division, and the deal established Hexagon as a major enterprise software company in addition to its hardware measurement business.[1]

### MSC Software

MSC Software, acquired in 2017 for $834 million, brought simulation and virtual testing capabilities to Hexagon's portfolio. MSC, originally founded as MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation, develops finite element analysis (FEA), multibody dynamics, and acoustic simulation software used by engineers to predict how products will behave under real-world conditions. The acquisition complemented Hexagon's measurement and quality assurance solutions with predictive simulation, creating a more complete digital manufacturing workflow from design simulation through production measurement and quality control.[1]

### Infor EAM

In 2021, Hexagon acquired Infor's Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) business for $800 million in cash plus approximately $1.95 billion in Hexagon shares, giving Koch Industries (Infor's parent company) a roughly 5% stake in Hexagon. Infor EAM is a cloud-based enterprise asset management platform used by organizations to track, maintain, and optimize their physical assets. The deal formed the basis of Hexagon's Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division and expanded the company's reach into operational technology and predictive maintenance.[1]

## Corporate structure and ownership

Hexagon AB is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange under the ticker HEXA B. The company's largest shareholder is the investment vehicle of Melker Schorling's family, which has maintained a controlling interest in Hexagon since Schorling's 1998 acquisition. Koch Industries holds approximately 5% following the 2021 Infor EAM transaction. The remainder of shares are held by institutional and retail investors globally.[1]

The company is organized as a holding company with semi-autonomous operating divisions, each headed by a division president who reports to the Group CEO. This structure allows Hexagon to maintain the entrepreneurial culture of its acquired businesses while achieving group-level coordination in technology development, cross-selling, and capital allocation.

## What are Hexagon's financials?

For full-year 2024, Hexagon AB reported net sales of approximately EUR 5.4 billion and employed roughly 24,800 people across 50 countries.[1][2] As of 2023, the company reported revenue of approximately $5.5 billion, total assets of $18.1 billion, and profits of approximately $1.1 billion. Hexagon's shares trade on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker HEXA B. The company has consistently generated strong operating margins, typically in the range of 25 to 30%, reflecting the high value-added nature of its measurement technology and software products.[1] The 2026 spin-off of Octave Intelligence plc, which carried approximately EUR 1.448 billion of revenue, reshaped the group's reported financials by separating its asset-lifecycle and geospatial-software businesses into an independent listed company.[5]

## See also

- [AEON](/wiki/hexagon_aeon)
- [Leica Geosystems](/wiki/leica_geosystems)
- [Humanoid robots](/wiki/humanoid_robots)
- [LiDAR](/wiki/lidar)
- [NVIDIA](/wiki/nvidia)

## References

1. [Hexagon AB - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagon_AB)
2. [Hexagon official website](https://hexagon.com/)
3. [Hexagon launches AEON, a humanoid built for industry - Hexagon Press Release (June 2025)](https://hexagon.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2025/hexagon-launches-aeon-a-humanoid-built-for-industry)
4. [Octave unveiled: Hexagon reveals name for potential 2026 company spin-off - Hexagon Press Release](https://hexagon.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2025/octave-unveiledhexagon-reveals-name-for-potential-2026-company-spin-off)
5. [Hexagon proposes distribution and listing of Octave Intelligence plc - Hexagon Press Release (March 2026)](https://hexagon.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2026/hexagon-proposes-distribution-and-listing-of-octave-intelligence-plc-and-provides-update-on-planned-spin-off)
6. [Hexagon Taps NVIDIA Robotics and AI Software to Build and Deploy AEON - NVIDIA Blog](https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/hexagon-robotics-ai-software-aeon-humanoid/)
7. [BMW piloting Hexagon's wheeled humanoid in Germany - The Robot Report (2026)](https://www.therobotreport.com/bmw-piloting-hexagons-wheeled-humanoid-in-germany/)
8. [BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time - BMW Group Press Release (2026)](https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0455864EN/bmw-group-to-deploy-humanoid-robots-in-production-in-germany-for-the-first-time)
9. [Hexagon publishes the Annual Report and Sustainability Report 2024 - Hexagon Press Release](https://hexagon.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2025/hexagon-publishes-the-annual-report-and-sustainability-report-2024)