In February 2025, Morgan Stanley released the report "The Humanoid 100: Mapping the Humanoid Robot Value Chain", which attracted widespread attention to the global humanoid robot industry pattern. In this report, China's outstanding performance in the global humanoid robot industry chain is particularly eye-catching, with a share of 63%, and 36 companies are on the list, demonstrating China's strong strength and great potential in this field. What is the reason and story behind this data?
Policy support: a strong backing for industrial development
It is self-evident that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the humanoid robot industry, and has introduced a series of policies and measures to support the technological innovation and market expansion of related enterprises. In January 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovation and Development of Future Industries", proposing to accelerate the implementation of major technical equipment research projects, break through high-end equipment products such as humanoid robots, and drive the industrialization of new technologies with complete machines. These policies provide strong financial support and policy guarantee for the R&D and production of enterprises, and promote the rapid development of the humanoid robot industry. For example, some enterprises have received special subsidies and tax incentives from the government in the process of R&D, which has reduced R&D costs and increased their enthusiasm for innovation.
Market demand: a broad space for industrial development
China's huge market demand provides a broad space for the development of local humanoid robot companies. With the aging of the Chinese population and the rise of labor costs, humanoid robots have broad application prospects in manufacturing, service industry, health care and other fields. In the manufacturing industry, humanoid robots can replace manual work to complete repetitive and dangerous tasks, improving production efficiency and product quality. For example, automobile manufacturers can use humanoid robots to assemble and weld parts, which not only improves production efficiency, but also reduces labor costs. In the service industry, humanoid robots can provide more personalized and intelligent services to meet the diverse needs of consumers. For example, hotels can use humanoid robots for housekeeping, luggage handling, and other tasks, improving service quality and customer satisfaction.
Technological innovation: the core driving force of industrial development
The global humanoid robot industry is in a stage of rapid development, and technological innovation is the core driving force to promote the development of the industry. Driven by AI technology, the intelligence level of humanoid robots is constantly improving, and their capabilities in natural language processing, computer vision, and autonomous decision-making are increasingly enhanced. For example, Baidu's Wenxin Yiyan and other AI models provide a strong guarantee for the robot's natural language processing and intelligent decision-making. At the same time, advances in semiconductor technology have also provided robots with more powerful computing power, allowing them to handle more complex tasks and data. For example, TSMC, as the world's leading semiconductor manufacturing company, has a solid foundation for high-performance computing chips for humanoid robots with its advanced chip manufacturing process.
In addition, the application of new materials and new processes also provides support for the improvement of robot performance. For example, the application of some new lightweight, high-strength materials and flexible electronic materials makes humanoid robots lighter and more flexible, and can better adapt to various complex environments and task requirements. For example, CATL's high-performance battery technology provides a guarantee for the long-term endurance of humanoid robots; The breakthroughs of Shuanghuan Transmission, Sanhua Intelligent Control and other enterprises in the field of key components such as reducers and control valves have broken the long-term monopoly of foreign companies and improved China's independent and controllable ability in the field of core components of humanoid robots.
Figure: Humanoid Robot 100: Mapping the value chain of humanoid robots
The supply chain system: a solid foundation for industrial development
As a global manufacturing power, China has a complete manufacturing system and strong supply chain supporting capabilities. This advantage is especially evident in the humanoid robot industry. Chinese enterprises can quickly integrate upstream and downstream resources to achieve efficient collaboration from raw material procurement to parts processing, assembly and testing, etc., which greatly shortens the product development and production cycle and reduces production costs. For example, in the "body" category, 45% of Chinese companies are engaged in integration, thanks to China's strong foundation and rich experience in machining, electronics manufacturing, materials science and other fields.
In addition, China's innovation in supply chain management also provides a reference for the development of the global humanoid robot industry. For example, some enterprises have realized real-time monitoring and optimization of the production process by establishing an intelligent supply chain management system, improving production efficiency and product quality. At the same time, China has also continuously improved its service level in logistics and distribution, after-sales service and other links, providing strong support for the market promotion and application of humanoid robots.
The layout of enterprises: the multiple forces of industrial development
In the list of the top 100 in the global humanoid robot industry chain, Chinese companies cover multiple links from key hardware components to integration, demonstrating strong system integration and application development capabilities. For example, Xiaomi Group released the humanoid robot "CyberOne", which has made important progress in the appearance design, motion control and intelligent interaction of humanoid robots. Alibaba and Tencent rely on their advantages in cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence to provide strong technical support and application scenarios for the intelligent development of humanoid robots.
In addition, some traditional manufacturing enterprises are also actively deploying in the field of humanoid robots, such as Guangzhou Automobile Group, Xiaopeng Motors, BYD, etc., these enterprises rely on their technology and experience in the field of automobile manufacturing, and provide strong support for the mechanical structure design and manufacture of humanoid robots. At the same time, these companies are also actively exploring the application scenarios of humanoid robots in intelligent transportation, smart home and other fields, providing new ideas and directions for the marketing and application of humanoid robots.
Future prospects: new opportunities and challenges for industrial development
Although China occupies an important position in the global humanoid robot industry chain, it still faces some challenges. For example, the independent innovation ability of core technologies still needs to be improved, and some high-end parts still rely on imports; The industrial ecology is not perfect, and the collaboration between enterprises needs to be strengthened; The market application field needs to be further expanded, and the business model needs to be innovated.
In the future, China should continue to increase R&D investment in the field of humanoid robots, improve independent innovation capabilities, and break through core technology bottlenecks; Strengthen the construction of industrial ecology, promote synergy and cooperation between enterprises, and form industrial synergy; Expand market application fields, innovate business models, and promote the healthy development of the humanoid robot industry. At the same time, Chinese enterprises should also actively strengthen international cooperation, learn from advanced international experience and technology, and enhance their international competitiveness.
In short, China occupies a 63% share in the global humanoid robot industry chain, and this achievement is due to the joint effect of its complete industrial chain layout, strong supply chain system, policy support and market demand. In the future, with the acceleration of technological innovation and the intensification of market competition, China's position in the global humanoid robot industry chain is expected to be further improved, and make greater contributions to the development of the global humanoid robot industry.
