ABB is a multinational corporation headquartered in Västerås, Sweden, and Zürich, Switzerland.[5] The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ASEA Brown Boveri, later simplified to the initials ABB. Both companies were established in the late 1800s and were major electrical equipment manufacturers, a business that ABB remains active in today. The company has also since expanded to robotics and automation technology.