China dominates humanoid robot market as commercialization accelerates this year,More than half of humanoid robot companies are in China

[Beijingwalker]

SemiAnalysis In-Depth Report: Unitree Will Dominate the Global Robotics Industry​

Jun 9 11:11

SemiAnalysis regards Unitree as a paradigmatic Chinese hardware giant following BYD and DJI. The G1 humanoid robot has a bill-of-materials cost of just $8,976 and a pre-tax selling price of $27,300, yielding a gross margin of as high as 67%. In-house development of actuators reduces component costs to 30–40% of those of comparable Western products. Combined with the flywheel effect of China’s supply chain—capable of weekly iterations—Unitree is leveraging the proven cost-reduction trajectory from its quadrupedal robots to bring humanoid robots out of the lab and into real-world material-handling applications.
“We are witnessing the emergence of another Chinese hardware giant.”

On June 9, SemiAnalysis, a prominent analyst firm covering the AI supply chain, stated this in its in-depth report titled “China's Unitree Will Dominate Global Robotics.” Unitree Robotics is now at the center of a global reassessment of the robotics supply chain—not because of its ability to perform stunts, but due to its pricing, delivery capability, and commercial deployment.

SemiAnalysis regards Unitree as a paradigmatic Chinese hardware giant following BYD and DJI. The G1 humanoid robot has a bill-of-materials cost of just $8,976 and a pre-tax selling price of $27,300, yielding a gross margin of as high as 67%. In-house development of actuators reduces component costs to 30–40% of those of comparable Western products. Combined with the flywheel effect of China’s supply chain—capable of weekly iterations—Unitree is leveraging the proven cost-reduction trajectory from its quadrupedal robots to bring humanoid robots out of the lab and into real-world material-handling applications.

The firm noted that three years ago, Unitree was solely a quadruped robotics company; by last year, it had extended its quadruped expertise into humanoid robots; and this year, its G1 model has entered the deployable phase, with three new designs underway. SemiAnalysis also remarked, “Unitree’s IPO marks the official dawn of the robotics era.”

High Gross Margins Behind Low Pricing​

Price is the first clue. Estimates show that Unitree’s G1 pre-tax price has dropped from over $50,000 to $27,300 over the past 12 to 18 months. Despite this, the flagship G1 is still estimated to carry a gross margin of 67%. Some transaction prices have already fallen below $20,000.

This implies that low pricing does not necessarily equate to selling at a loss to gain market share. If the Bill of Materials (BoM) estimates hold true, Unitree’s competitive edge stems from manufacturing cost efficiency, not merely aggressive pricing.

Shipment volumes are also drawing attention. SemiAnalysis noted that Western humanoid robotics companies remain largely in early product stages, whereas “we have heard that Unitree may deliver its 10,000th humanoid robot within the coming weeks.”

Replicating BYD’s and DJI’s Hardware Playbook​

SemiAnalysis places Unitree within a familiar success trajectory for Chinese hardware companies: first, gain control over the most expensive and technically challenging core components; then leverage scale to drive down costs; and finally, use each successive product generation to unlock new markets.

In BYD’s case, the critical component was batteries, which once accounted for approximately 30%–40% of an electric vehicle’s Bill of Materials (BoM). BYD started with batteries and gradually internalized key components—including batteries, electric drives, motors, IGBTs, and SiC power modules—to build a structural cost advantage.

In DJI's case, the key component was the flight controller. In 2013, the Phantom 1 sold for USD 679—it lacked an integrated camera, a gimbal, and offered only 10 minutes of flight time—but it cost roughly half as much as self-assembled drones and eliminated complex assembly. DJI’s revenue grew from USD 4 million in 2011 to USD 130 million in 2013.

SemiAnalysis summarized this strategy as: control a critical component, launch with early-adopter researchers and hobbyists, leverage the supply chain ecosystem, and unlock a new market segment with each hardware generation.

Unitree’s chosen key component is the actuator—the robotic joint. Actuators account for 50%–70% of the bill of materials (BoM) in humanoid robots.

This also explains Unitree’s entry point via quadrupedal robots: in 2018, the Laikago was priced at USD 45,000; by 2020, the A1 dropped to USD 15,000; in 2021, the Go1 Air started at USD 2,700; today, the Go2 starts at approximately USD 1,600–2,800 depending on configuration and region.

Over six years, the price of entry-level quadrupedal robots has fallen by roughly 94%–96%. This has enabled Unitree to accumulate actuators, control systems, suppliers, and production processes that are directly transferable to humanoid robots.

The real variable is China’s supply chain flywheel.​

Unitree’s advantage lies not only in individual robots but also in the broader strength derived from China’s hardware supply chain.

In 2024, China produced 31.3 million vehicles, 40.9% of which were new energy vehicles; its drone industry already includes around 3,000 component suppliers; and approximately 200 humanoid robotics companies within China both draw from and reinforce this ecosystem.

These supply chains are readily adaptable to robotics, including brushless DC motors, drivers, encoders, batteries, and manufacturing processes. More critically, iteration speed is unmatched: within China, suppliers are often just a few hours away by train, enabling same-day or next-day sample delivery. Vertical iteration cycles can be measured in weeks rather than quarters, and component prices may be 20%–40% lower than comparable Western products.

Unitree is also developing its own BLDC motors, planetary gearboxes, LiDAR, and depth cameras. Its in-house motors cost as little as 30%–40% of comparable Western products. In its quadrupedal robot business, gross margins have risen from 42.36% to 55.49%, while costs have nearly halved.

If the IPO proceeds smoothly, what the market should truly focus on is not short-term hype around initial shipments, but three indicators: whether G1 can achieve wider real-world deployment, whether the bill of materials (BOM) cost can continue to decline, and whether AI capabilities can reduce the reliance on remote operation. Only when all three conditions are met simultaneously will the assertion that 'Unitree Robotics will dominate the global robotics industry' move beyond being merely a bold claim.

The early G1 was not very user-friendly.​

Both the H1 and the early G1 were 'not particularly capable' upon initial shipment. According to SemiAnalysis, the G1 could briefly carry only 2 kg with both arms fully extended, and about 2–3 kg for approximately 2–3 minutes with arms bent, after which it required roughly 30 minutes to recover. When users pushed these units into real-world tasks, the motors frequently overheated.

Over the past few years, Unitree Robotics has enhanced the performance of its QDD (quasi-direct-drive) motors by reducing motor current requirements, optimizing magnetic field smoothness, increasing copper winding fill density, and improving thermal management. The G1 batch scheduled for October 2025 will also feature active cooling near the pelvis.

The latest specifications indicate that the G1 can now operate continuously for 10–15 minutes while carrying a 5 kg payload with arms bent, and sustain 5 kg for approximately 1 minute with arms fully extended. Compared to earlier data, payload capacity has roughly doubled, and operational duration has increased by about fivefold.

G1 will initially handle 'light-duty tasks' rather than immediately replacing human workers entirely in factories.​

Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robots may not yet be universal laborers, but they are already capable of operating effectively in narrow, specialized scenarios.

Estimates suggest the Unitree G1 is suited for light-load tasks such as moving bins weighing 2–4 kg or handling empty containers. SemiAnalysis used Agility Robotics’ bin-handling task as a benchmark. In one conference demonstration, Agility achieved a rate of 66 bins per hour, with bin weights in GXO deployments ranging from 2 to 4 kg.

SemiAnalysis estimates that by 2025, up to approximately 250 Unitree humanoid robots had already entered pilot or production deployments, including one enterprise that deployed around 30 units.

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[Beijingwalker]

Why It’s Nearly Impossible to Build a Robot Without China​

Building on the country’s electric vehicle industry, Chinese companies are making robot parts at a scale and price point others can’t match.

• June 11, 2026

Japan led the world in robotics for decades.

More than 50 years ago, Japanese researchers captured imaginations with the first robot capable of grasping objects and walking on two legs. In 1984, a team in Japan built one that could read sheet music and play the piano. When Honda unveiled its first humanoid in 2000, it seemed to cement the country’s lead.

But now, just as tech investors, start-up founders and government officials around the world are betting that artificial intelligence will spur growth for robots, that lead no longer belongs to Japan.

It belongs to China.

Last month at the Humanoids Summit, a robotics conference in Tokyo, what could have been a victory lap for an industry built on decades of development and investment instead centered on a different topic: how Japanese companies can break through in a market increasingly dominated by Chinese rivals.

Investors urged Japanese companies to find niches where they could compete even if they couldn’t match Chinese firms on price. A dancing robot from China’s Unitree Robotics drew the largest crowds. Two Japanese firms also used Unitree robots to demonstrate their software.
Image

Chinese companies now dominate the supply chain for humanoid robots.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Technicians in Shenzhen, China assemble sensors that help robots see.Credit...Qilai Shen for The New York Times

Chinese manufacturers dominate the humanoid robot supply chain. Start-ups like Unitree are producing thousands of humanoids that sell for less than $5,000 each, a pace and price that competitors in Japan and elsewhere struggle to match. Chinese robots once depended on Japanese and other foreign suppliers for components such as sensors and joints. But these days, those parts are made in China, too.

It has become nearly impossible to build a humanoid robot without parts from Chinese companies, said Ming Hsun Lee, the head of greater China autos and industrials at BofA Global Research, a unit of Bank of America.

“The component cost in China has gone down way too fast — other countries can’t compete,” Mr. Lee said.

But making humanoid robots has proved easier to achieve than finding a purpose for them. Even robotics executives acknowledge that today’s models are far from performing the types of jobs that have fueled the industry’s excitement.

And though the promise of humanoids remains unfulfilled, China has established a commanding lead in a segment of the robotics industry that is economically useful: factory automation.

China has been making and installing factory robots at a pace unmatched by any other country. In 2024, more than two million robots were operating in Chinese factories, and another 300,000 were installed — more than in the rest of the world combined. Industrial robot installations declined in each of the next largest markets: Japan, the United States, South Korea and Germany.

Chinese robotics firms, including Unitree Robotics, still rely heavily on simulation software from Nvidia to train robots to perceive, reason and act in the real world.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Electronics markets in Shenzhen increasingly feature parts for the city’s growing robotics industry.Credit...Qilai Shen for The New York Times

Earlier this month, Chinese regulators announced a campaign to encourage local governments and state-owned firms to identify industrial use cases for humanoid robots.

China’s lead in the race to build robots that move and act like humans is closely tied to the rise of its electric vehicle industry. China has become the largest E.V. exporter through decades of government investment and a strategy focused on producing nearly every component domestically, from screws to lithium-ion batteries.

Now, many companies that manufacture parts for electric vehicles are supplying robot makers, too.

“If a company can make auto components, then probably it can also do humanoids,” Mr. Lee said.

Tesla, the American electric car company, kicked off China’s E.V. boom with its giant factory in Shanghai. The supplier network that grew around Tesla also serves the company’s robotics business.

Although Tesla had pushed to build a separate supply chain for customers outside China, it still relies on Chinese manufacturers for at least 70 percent of its components, Mr. Lee said.

The factory floors of China’s electric vehicle makers, including BYD and Xiaomi, have also become among the first places to deploy humanoid robots for simple tasks like carrying items.

Some of those robots were built by UBTech. In Shenzhen, the center of China’s tech industry, the company is surrounded by suppliers, many of which once made parts for electric vehicles before moving into robotics. UBTech can source almost any part within hours, said Michael Tam, the company’s chief brand officer.

Many parts are 3-D printed. “I can send a design map by 9 a.m. and get the printed components by noon,” Mr. Tam said. “If one supplier tells me they’re fully booked, I just call another.”

More than 90 percent of the components in UBTech’s robots come from Chinese companies, Mr. Tam said. The main items it still imports are computer chips to control the robots’ movements.

Nearby in Shenzhen, RoboSense, a maker of light detection and ranging, or lidar, sensors for assisted-driving systems, started a robotics business in 2024.

Yang Xiansheng, the company’s vice president of robotics, said RoboSense would have looked to Japanese firms in the past for parts for its automated production lines.

“That’s no longer the case,” Mr. Yang said. “Chinese suppliers now offer far more choices.”

Chinese investors poured over $5 billion into humanoid robot start-ups in 2025, equaling the total amount over the previous five years. In the first five months of this year, investment in the industry exceeded last year’s total by nearly $1 billion.

The surge underscores a growing belief that humanoid robots could become one of the most significant ways artificial intelligence takes physical form in the world. Dozens of Chinese start-ups are working to capitalize on that vision.

In March, Unitree filed to go public in Shanghai. The company said last week that it had passed a regulatory review that could put it on track to start selling shares within weeks. The offering is expected to be one of China’s largest this year, and nearly 50 other robotics-related companies are waiting to list shares in Hong Kong.

Last year, UBTech produced 1,000 humanoids. This year, it intends to make 10 times as many.

Founders and investors envision humanoids handling dangerous tasks like monitoring factories for chemical leaks and carrying heavy loads.

But the robots currently struggle to adapt to the changing world around them. The humanoids that have drawn international attention for dancing in sync at events like China’s televised Lunar New Year special were following preprogrammed scripts.

Chinese companies have also struggled to build software capable of simulating the real world well enough to train robots how to think and act. For that, many rely on simulation software from Nvidia, the American chip maker. Last month, Jensen Huang, its chief executive, announced a partnership with Unitree on a line of robots that will use Nvidia chips and software for reasoning and decision making. The robots are expected to be available in October.

Most of the humanoids that Unitree has sold in the past two years have gone to universities, laboratories and other research settings, where developers are exploring how software interacts with robot hardware. Few are performing actual labor.

Some UBTech robots carry boxes and perform basic manual labor in electric vehicle factories. But they remain far less productive than humans. The robots, said Mr. Tam, the UBTech executive, are currently only about 30 percent as efficient as human workers, though the company hopes to raise that figure to 50 percent this year.

At the Humanoids Summit in Tokyo, Xiaoli Chen, a director at Unitree, said creating robots capable of complex decision making in rapidly changing settings remained a challenge.

“Unitree has gotten a lot of attention and had a lot of events, but this is not productivity,” he said. “The long horizon of doing jobs in complicated environments is still not solved yet.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/business/china-robots-humanoid.html