On May 10, 2025, at the 6th Shanghai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Youth Forum, Unitree Robotics founder and CEO Xingxing Wang made a revealing statement: amid surging demand and robust government support for the humanoid robot industry, his company is grappling with a severe talent shortage. While business is booming, the shortage of skilled professionals has become the industry’s Achilles’ heel. Wang’s remarks sparked widespread industry discussion and highlighted a central contradiction in China's robotics sector: the gap between rapid hardware breakthroughs and a lagging talent pipeline.
This article by China Exportsemi analyzes the current status and future outlook of China’s humanoid robot industry in 2025 through five key lenses: market momentum, policy support, technological progress, talent shortages, and long-term challenges.
I. Explosive Growth: Humanoid Robots Enter the Fast Lane
Since the second half of 2024, the global humanoid robot market has experienced a rapid surge, driven by a powerful combination of technological advancement, capital influx, and expanding applications. According to Morgan Stanley’s October 2024 report, The Robot Economy: Humanoids as the Next $10 Trillion Industry, annual global revenue from humanoid robots could reach $5 trillion by 2050, with cumulative installations surpassing 1 billion units—rivalling the growth curve of smartphones at their peak.
China is playing a leading role in this trend. Data from Qichacha shows that over 191,000 robotics-related companies were newly registered in China in 2024, up 43.5% year-on-year. Of these, 67,000 explicitly list "humanoid robots" as a business focus—a record high in the past decade. Investor enthusiasm is similarly intense. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, more than 20 robotics firms secured funding, with some rounds exceeding 500 million yuan, spanning areas like chips, sensors, and servo systems.
Against this backdrop, Unitree Robotics has emerged as a standout player. According to a report by GG Robotics Industry Research Institute, Unitree shipped 23,700 quadruped robots in 2024, accounting for nearly 70% of the global market. The company also delivered 1,500 humanoid robots that year—the highest figure for a single brand in China. At the forum, Wang disclosed that 2025 orders have already grown by more than 200% year-on-year, but warned that production capacity and staffing have become major bottlenecks.
Figure: In 2025, the robot industry will have a blowout of orders, and Wang Xingxing exposed that Unitree Technology has a large talent gap
II. Policy Tailwinds: Strong Government Backing Continues
The rapid clustering of China's robotics industry owes much to national policy support. In 2021, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Robotics Industry Development," calling for breakthroughs in humanoid, flexible, and collaborative robots, while advocating for a coordinated, multi-stakeholder approach to building a full industry chain—from components to systems and applications.
In 2024, the Ministry of Science and Technology expanded its national R&D program for intelligent robotics, launching new initiatives for key modules like vision systems, natural language interaction, and force-control actuators. Multiple agencies, including MIIT, NDRC, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance, have rolled out support mechanisms spanning talent cultivation, university-industry collaboration, and matching funds.
Local governments have also acted swiftly. For example, Zhejiang Province’s “2024–2026 Action Plan for Robot Industry Development” aims to build a world-class robotics cluster and has introduced a package of incentives for leading firms like Unitree, including subsidies, land allocation priority, tax breaks, and priority access to technology projects.
III. Technological Leap: AI Models and Hardware Evolve in Tandem
Humanoid robots are undergoing a critical evolution—from mimicking human form to approximating human behavior—driven by advances in both AI and hardware.
The integration of large AI models has significantly enhanced decision-making and interaction capabilities. Leading examples like OpenAI’s GPT-4 series are now embedded in perception and command modules, enabling natural language understanding, multi-turn dialogue, and complex task execution. Domestic models such as Baidu's Ernie Bot and SenseTime's SenseNova are also being adapted for robotic applications.
On the hardware front, substantial breakthroughs have been made. Domestic manufacturing has improved the availability of high-precision IMUs, anti-interference servo drives, and lightweight carbon fiber structures. According to the China Robot Industry Alliance, by the end of 2024, the domestic self-sufficiency rate for core robot components reached 67%—a 23-percentage-point increase in three years—substantially reducing production costs.
Unitree has been at the forefront of these advances. Originally known for its XDog quadruped robot, which gained popularity in academic and research institutions for its cost-effective performance, the company launched its second-generation humanoid robot—Unitree H1—in 2024. This model features dual-arm coordination, high-speed locomotion, and autonomous navigation, making it one of the few Chinese robots ready for real-world deployment.
IV. Talent Shortage: The Industry’s Critical Weakness
Despite favorable market conditions, the shortage of skilled talent has emerged as a major bottleneck.
Wang admits that nearly every position at Unitree is understaffed—especially those requiring cross-disciplinary skills in control algorithms, embedded systems, motor drives, and mechanical optimization. Although the company doubled its headcount in 2024, it still struggles to meet the needs of new production lines and project teams.
This issue is widespread across the industry. According to Liepin Research Institute’s March 2025 report, the average recruitment cycle for robotics jobs in China is 42 days—significantly longer than the 27-day average in general manufacturing. For advanced technical roles, the average hiring time exceeds 70 days. Talent in AI algorithms, embedded control, and real-time OS development is in particularly short supply.
Moreover, university curricula have yet to catch up with industry needs. While the Ministry of Education has promoted "first-class AI majors," most programs still focus on computer vision and machine learning, offering limited training in mechatronic integration and multi-degree-of-freedom coordination—skills essential for humanoid robotics.
V. Outlook: A Golden Decade Fraught with Challenges
With technological progress and market momentum converging, 2025 is widely seen as a tipping point for the commercialization of humanoid robots in China. The industry is moving beyond the lab and into real-world applications, creating a positive feedback loop of deployment, feedback, and optimization.
In the next 3 to 5 years, pilot use cases are expected to emerge in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, elder care, education, security, and domestic services. For example, as China moves toward a deeply aged society by 2030, humanoid robots with caregiving and companionship capabilities may become vital in home-based elder care.
However, several key challenges remain:
Cost barriers: Most humanoid robots still cost over 500,000 yuan, limiting mass adoption.
Safety and reliability: Unified standards are lacking for performance in high-dynamic and complex environments.
Ethics and regulation: Frameworks around privacy, autonomy, and labor replacement remain underdeveloped.
Chips and computing power: Local production of high-efficiency embedded chips and edge computing platforms needs further development.
Conclusion: A Golden Track Requires Human-Machine Synergy
The surge in orders and Unitree's talent bottleneck are not isolated phenomena, but reflections of a critical inflection point in the development of China’s humanoid robot sector. As robots move from labs into homes and factories, long-term success will depend on both technological breakthroughs and human capital.
Enterprises should proactively invest in talent pipelines—partnering with universities to build robotics labs and launch specialized programs in embedded systems and control. Policymakers, in turn, should create dedicated talent development funds and support workforce mobility.
Technology shapes the future, but talent sets the course. Only by solving the human side of the equation can China’s humanoid robot industry truly ascend to global leadership.
