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Unitree’s G1 robot at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 6, 2025.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Ghetto images
US technology companies compete to introduce into the development of humanoid robots, emphasizing their importance to the future economy. But analysts warn that they are already at risk of losing from competitors in China.
The so-called artificial intelligence machine robots designed to look like people in appearance and movement-expects to provide a number of cases of use, such as filling jobs in the industrial and sector.
Investors’ excitement bypass the robots is mounted against the background of Elevation Of technology leaders like Jensen Huang by Nvidia, which he introduced in the “Age of the Common Robotics” earlier this month as he announced a new portfolio of technology To develop humanoid robots.
In the production of the robots themselves, TeslaThe Humanoid Robots Project, Optimus, seems to be the lead in the US, CEO Elon Musk announces plans For the production of about 5,000 units This year.
While Musk’s ambitious plans could give him a foot to American competitors such as Appronik and Boston Dynamics, who are yet to reach the mass market, he will face a firm competition from a well -known source: China.
Jenson Huang, co -founder and CEO of NVIDIA, spoke about humanoids during the CES event in 2025 in Las Vegas on January 6, 2025.
Bridget Bennett | Bloomberg | Ghetto images
Hangzhou Unitree Robotics based last month briefly sold two humanoid robots to users of the e -commerce platform JD.com, such as local mediaS Meanwhile, Robotics Startup in Shanghai Agibot, also known as Zhiyuan Robotics, coincides with the target of Optimus to produce 5,000 robots this year, according to The The Southern China in the morning postS
As Chinese electric vehicle companies like Byd begins to overtake the growth of Tesla And by undercutting his prices, experts claim that such dynamics can be played in the humanoid robotics.
“China has the potential to repeat its destructive impact from the EV industry in the humanoid space. However, this time the violation can extend far beyond an industry, potentially transforming the workforce itself,” says Rake Knutsen, an analyst at Semianalysis, an independent research company specializing in the study and analysis.
Dancing at the competition?
In a February research note, Morgan Stanley estimates that the current costs of building humanoid robots can range from $ 10,000 to $ 300,000 per unit, taking into account different configurations and requirements for down the chain.
However, Chinese companies are already undercutting US competitors in terms of price thanks to excellent savings from large -scale and production capabilities, according to KNUHTSEN.
For example, Unitree released its G1 humanoid robot For consumers in May at a starting price of $ 16,000. For comparison, Morgan Stanley estimates that the cost of selling the Tesla Optimus Gen2 humanoid robot can be around $ 20,000, but only if the company is able to scale, shorten its research and development cycle and use profitable components from China.
Unitree made a large splash in the robot space in January, when 16 of the highest performing H1 H1 Humanoid robots joined a group of human dancers to celebrate to celebrate Lunar New Year in a demonstration Native television broadcast.
But there are signs that China’s progress in robots is going on a lot more. Morgan Stanley’s research note has found that the country has led the world in patent documents, mentioning Humanoid over the last five years, with 5 688 patents compared to 1483 of the United States.
Big players like Xiaomi And EV creators, such as Byd, Chery and Xpenng, are also involved in the space of humanoid robots.
“Our research suggests that China continues to show the most impressive progress in the humanoid robotics, where startup companies take advantage of established supply chains, local adoption capabilities and a strong degree of support for the national government,” the note said.
Beijing is increasingly supporting space, with government services encouraging their development. In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology guidance for the space, calling for “scale production” by 2025.
According to Ming Hun Lee, the head of larger Chinese car and industrial research at Bofa Global Research, China sees humanoid robots as an important industry because of its potential to mitigate labor shortages.
“I think in the short term, three to four years, we will see humanoid robots originally applied in production lines to compare some workers, and in the average we will see them gradually spread to the service industry,” he said.
Musk predicts there will be over 1000 or several thousand, Optimus robots working in Tesla in 2025 according to Chinese State MediaEv Makers like Byd and Geely have already deployed some of Unitree’s humanoid robots in their factories.
Lee said increased reception would coincide with a “very fast” decline in component costs, noting that China owns about 70% of the supply chain for these components.
According to a report by Semianalysis earlier this month, Unitree G1 – “The only viable humanoid robot on the market” – is entirely separated from American components.
The report warns that China is the only country located to retrieve the economic awards of intelligent robotics systems, including humanoid robots that “pose an existential threat to the United States as it is exceeded in all options.”
“In order to catch up, US players need to quickly mobilize a strong production and industrial base, whether in the country or through allied countries … For Tesla and similar companies, it may be wise to start redirecting or” friendly “of their component and production to reduce China’s reading.”
Bank of America analysts have predicted in a research note this month that the implementation of humanoid robots will accelerate quickly, assisted by the development of AI, with global annual sales reaching 1 million by 2030 and 3 billion humanoid robots in operation by 2060.
