China’s humanoid robots have taken over global attention with kung fu kicks at the country’s televised Spring Festival gala, while Chinese phone maker Honor is set to unveils its first humanoid robot at MWC in Spain.
Robotics was highlighted as a priority within the country “Made in China 2025” plan.though initially focused on factory automation, rather than humanoids. Now, rapid advances in multimodal artificial intelligence are accelerating so-called embedded AI — autonomous machines that operate in the real world — a push that officials say could help offset labor shortages and boost productivity.
At this early stage of humanoid robot development, Chinese companies are outpacing their U.S. rivals in both speed and volume, said Selina Xu, head of China and artificial intelligence policy in Eric Schmidt’s office.
“China has a more robust hardware supply chain — much of it built through the EV sector, from sensors to batteries — and the strongest manufacturing base in the world, allowing companies to iterate much faster than Western competitors,” Xu told TechCrunch.
As a result, not only are Chinese robots cheaper, but companies can also roll out new models faster, Xu noted, adding that top Chinese company Unitree shipped about 36 times more units last year than U.S. rivals Figure and Tesla.
Global shipments of humanoid robots totaled just 13,317 units last year, according to a Forbes report published last month. That’s a small base for an industry expected to nearly double annually to 2.6 million units by 2035. (Still, the figures should be taken with a grain of salt. The report notes that it remains unclear how many units represent commercial sales versus demo models or pilot deployments, underscoring the industry’s early-stage nature.)
The leading makers of humanoid robots by 2025 missions were China’s Agibot and Unitree, followed by UBTech, Leju Robotics, Engine AI and Fourier Intelligence, underscoring Beijing’s early dominance in the field.
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The biggest shift recently has been from “demonstration-driven excitement” to “features-driven adoption,” Yuli Zhao, chief strategy officer at Galbot, told TechCrunch. Galbot’s humanoid robot G1 appeared at this year’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s annual state-run New Year’s Eve show, along with robots from Unitree Robotics, Noetix and MagicLab.
“More customers are asking: Can the robot work stably in real environments and take work off people’s plates? This practical appeal is enhanced in China because policy and industrial strategy encourage automation upgrades and the manufacturing ecosystem makes iterating extremely fast,” Zhao said.
While increased funding to humanoid startups “has certainly accelerated” the pace of progress, “the most durable adoption comes when you can show reliable and repeatable value in production or service operations, not just a one-time exposure,” Zhao added.
However, investment helps, and Chinese robotics manufacturers are making sure of it. Last year Unitree was valued at around $3 billion after closing a Series C, with aspirations to reach up to $7 billion in a future IPO. Meantime, Galbot has raised more than $300 million in new funding, pushing its valuation to $3 billion, one of the largest in China’s humanoid robotics sector to date.
American companies are moving beyond impressive displays and focusing on real developments. In addition, they pursue their own aggressive goals. US Startup FoundationFor example, it plans to build 50,000 humanoid robots by the end of 2027.
But China is already targeting a combination of affordable mass-market models and advanced applications, rapidly expanding humanoids into industrial, consumer and rehabilitation sectors, according to a December report. TrendForce report.
Congestion in China’s rule
When it comes to AI systems and embedded software, it’s still unclear where Chinese humanoid companies really stand. The industry is betting heavily on vision-language-action models and “world models,” but both technologies remain in early stages. Nvidia currently leads the space with its end-to-end humanoid software stack, according to Xu, so naturally most humanoid startups in China are powered by Nvidia’s Orin chips. However, domestic chipmakers are developing domestic alternatives, he said.
However, manufacturers of humanoid robots are still working on fundamental problems. The challenge is to allow robot foundation models to predict the “next natural state” the robot will encounter in unpredictable environments, similar to how large language models predict the next word. But unlike LLMs, humanoid robotics companies can’t just “scrape” the web for training data, Xu said. Thus, most are based on simulation environments, which generate synthetic data, although real-world data collection remains essential.
“Because of the lack of data problem, humanoids are still a long way from autonomy. The hardware is currently ahead of the software – the robot body can handle much more dexterity today than years ago (although it has reliability issues, as we’ve seen with robots that broke down in humanoid marathons), but the brain is still nascent,” the analyst said.
Safety is also a major hurdle for humanoid robots. A high-profile accident could cause a public backlash, and China is likely considering how to develop the technology quickly without moving too quickly. As the industry matures, more regulation is expected.
Given the lack of data, Zhao believes that demand for humanoids will first increase in fairly limited workplaces.
“The early momentum is likely to be in manufacturing, warehouse logistics and retail, where tasks are repetitive, hours are long and processes are clear – creating real demand and ideal conditions for humanoid robots to deliver value at scale,” he said.
Other APAC Players
The development of humanoid robots is not a race between two countries. Japan’s robotics ecosystem — from startups to semiconductor heavyweights — is aiming to mass produce humanoids by 2027. Pioneering projects like Honda’s Asimo, Murata Manufacturing’s Murata Boy and SoftBank Robotics’ Pepper, Japan relies on precision and advanced control. An area unique to this nation: Humanoid robots are increasingly being used in elder care.
Coral Capital CEO James Riney, who invests in technology companies in Japan, believes Tokyo will continue to thrive in the humanoid robotics industry. “There are three factors likely to drive the adoption of robotics in Japan. One is the labor shortage and the desire to be less dependent on mass immigration. The second is the widespread cultural view of robots as our friends – more against Terminator. The third is that Japan is already Doraemon dominant in many parts of the robotics supply chain.”
Boston Dynamics unit of Hyundai Motor unveiled a new humanoid Atlas for factory use by 2028with production plans up to 30,000 units per year in the US as part of the AI-based robotic push.
However, for China, government policy, industrial strategy, labor shortages and private capital are all converging to enable the country’s humanoid robotics push.
“China’s leadership is best understood as a speed-to-scale advantage,” Zhao said. “The ecosystem here compresses the entire cycle—R&D, supply chain, manufacturing, integration, and customer development—into a very tight loop. That means humanoid companies can move from prototype to real-world development faster, learn from real-world operations, and iterate at a pace that’s hard to match elsewhere.”
