Under the impetus of the artificial intelligence wave, the humanoid robot industry has entered a new era of development, and the global industrial landscape is also undergoing a disruptive transformation.
On the 11th, The New York Times reported under the title 'Why Robot Manufacturing Is Almost Indispensable Without China', that relying on the advantages of the electric vehicle industry, Chinese companies currently have production capabilities and pricing advantages in manufacturing robot components that are difficult for other regions around the world to match. China has become a global leader in the robotics industry.
Last month, the Humanoid Robot Summit held in Tokyo was a industry event that showcased Japan's decades of industrial achievements. However, the focus of the discussion was on how Japanese companies can break through in the face of Chinese competitors who are increasingly dominating the market.
Reports indicate that Chinese manufacturers dominate the supply chain of humanoid robots. Local startups like Yushu produce humanoid robots at a unit price of less than $5,000. Such production capacity and pricing levels are beyond the reach of Japanese and other regional competitors. In the past, Chinese robots relied heavily on Japanese and foreign suppliers for core components such as sensors and joints. Now, these components are basically produced locally.
Although there is still a long way to go before humanoid robots become commercially viable, China has already established an absolute advantage in the field of industrial robots that have practical economic value.
Currently, China leads the world in the production and installation of industrial robots. Data shows that by 2024, more than 2 million robots will be working in Chinese factories, with an additional 300,000 units installed throughout the year. Meanwhile, the installation numbers in major industrial robot markets such as Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Germany are all declining.
"Now we want to build humanoid robots, almost impossible without supplies from Chinese enterprises for robot parts." American Express Global Research Head of the Greater China Area said.
June 11, 2026, Shanghai: Humanoid robots at the 12th Shanghai International Automotive Technology and Equipment Exhibition. IC photo
The report argues that the rise of the Chinese humanoid robot industry is closely linked to the booming electric vehicle industry. China has adopted a full-industry localization strategy, achieving autonomous production of everything from small screws to lithium-ion batteries. As a result, China has become the world's largest exporter of electric vehicles. Many electric vehicle component manufacturers have also undergone transformation, starting to supply robot enterprises with their products.
The head of global research for Bank of America in Greater China, specializing in the automotive and industrial industries, stated that companies capable of manufacturing automotive parts are usually also capable of producing components for humanoid robots.
Many components are also produced using 3D printing. The chief brand officer of a robotics company in Shenzhen said that design drawings can be issued at 9 a.m., and the printed products can be obtained by noon. If a supplier’s queue is full, they can quickly contact the next supplier.
Another company that entered the robotics field last year revealed that in the past, companies would prioritize Japanese manufacturers for components used in their automated production lines. “Now the situation has completely changed; local Chinese suppliers offer a much richer range of options.”
According to reports, in 2025, China will invest over $5 billion in humanoid robot startups, which is equivalent to the total investment over the previous five years. In the first five months of this year, the industry's investment amount was nearly $100 million more than the total investment for the entire year of last year.
Although robots currently still struggle to adapt to the ever-changing world around them, business founders and investors envision that in the future, humanoid robots will be capable of performing high-risk tasks such as monitoring chemical leaks in factories and carrying heavy objects.
At the Tokyo Humanoid Robots Summit, Yushi Technology stated that enabling robots to make complex decisions in rapidly changing scenarios remains a major challenge in the industry.
In the long term, the market for humanoid robots has significant growth potential. The US Strategic Market Institute previously estimated that the global market for humanoid robots will reach $48.4 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 45.2%.
Chip giant NVIDIA's founder, Jensen Huang, once predicted: "In the next century, the number of humanoid robots could become as widespread as cars today."
Domestic policy makers are also continuously increasing support for industrial development. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State-owned Assets Administration Commission jointly issued a notice to officially launch the 2026 Humanoid Robots andembodied Intelligence Practical Training Program. The notice specifies that by the end of 2026, key products such as humanoid robots will be first subjected to application verification and regular deployment in a number of representative scenarios, initiating their "operational mode." More than a hundred high-value application scenarios will be developed, further enriching the spectrum of embodied intelligence applications, and enabling the formation of a capability to implement systems on a scale of tens of thousands of units.
