Intuitive Surgical is a US medical-technology company founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It was founded by John Freund, Dr. Frederic Moll and Robert Younge; the underlying robotics research traces back to work by Ajit Shah and Gary Guthart at the SRI International research institute in the late 1980s. The company develops and markets robotic systems designed to improve minimally invasive surgery and is regarded as the pioneer of robot-assisted surgery.
Products
The portfolio spans several da Vinci generations. The current da Vinci 5 system offers, according to the company, more than 150 design innovations and 10,000 times the computing power of its predecessor, da Vinci Xi. Da Vinci Xi is described as the most widely used multiport robotic surgery system in the world and includes features such as Firefly fluorescence imaging. Da Vinci X is a lower-cost entry system sharing the same arm architecture as Xi, while the single-port da Vinci SP system is designed for single-incision or natural-orifice procedures. Intuitive also markets Ion, a robotic system for minimally invasive lung biopsy via bronchoscopy. The business model combines sales of the systems with recurring revenue from instruments, accessories and service contracts.
Robotics and automation relevance
Intuitive stands for precision robotics in a medical setting: imaging, instrument guidance and the human-machine interface work together to enable fine surgical movements. Early competitor Computer Motion and its ZEUS system were absorbed by Intuitive in 2003 following patent litigation; since then da Vinci has established itself as the dominant standard in robot-assisted surgery.
Key figures
For fiscal year 2025, Intuitive reported revenue of roughly US$10.06 billion, up 21% year over year, and about 17,021 employees. Fourth-quarter 2025 revenue was US$2.87 billion, up 19%. Intuitive trades on Nasdaq under the ticker ISRG and is a component of the Nasdaq-100, S&P 100 and S&P 500; in the 2025 Fortune 500 ranking it placed 459th overall and 43rd in healthcare.
Installed base and procedure growth
As of December 31, 2025, the installed da Vinci base reached 11,106 systems worldwide, up 12% from 9,902 systems at the end of 2024; the company placed 1,721 new systems during 2025, including 532 in the fourth quarter alone, of which 303 were da Vinci 5 systems. Worldwide procedure volume from da Vinci and Ion combined grew about 18% in 2025 to roughly 3.15 million procedures; da Vinci procedures grew about 17% and Ion procedures about 44%. Every procedure consumes instruments and accessories, underpinning recurring revenue.
Growth drivers and framework conditions
The business is tied to the number of procedures performed, which depends on factors such as demographics, hospital budgets and reimbursement rules. For 2026, Intuitive expects slower da Vinci procedure growth of 13% to 15% and a tariff-related headwind to revenue margin of roughly 1.2 percentage points. As a medical-technology company, Intuitive is subject to strict approval and regulatory requirements, with demonstrating clinical benefit and safety central to its business. The installed base and recurring revenue from consumables remain defining features of the business model.
This profile is a neutral description and is not investment advice.