China Has Built 97% of the World's Humanoid Robots, What Is Still Missing?
QR Code Gasgoo Munich-"The latest data shows that China accounts for 97% of global humanoid robot exports and manufacturing." Jin Bing, a former deputy director and first-class inspector at the State Post Bureau’s policy and regulations department, cited th...
Key takeaways
- China’s Xpeng has begun mass‑producing its IRON humanoid robot, with the machine autonomously walking off the production line in early September and slated to ship to commercial customers next year; the company says the robot features 82 degrees of freedom, can move at about two metres per second and will be built on automated lines that exceed 80 % core process automation.
- At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army is accelerating the transfer of laboratory breakthroughs to battlefield tools, as evidenced by a September 7 procurement notice that called for “embodied humanoid robot intelligent perception and dexterous operation systems,” a June 2026 budget of roughly $300,000 for data‑collection and labeling of camera, radar and motion data, and a post‑games directive from the PLA Daily urging researchers to fast‑track combat‑ready humanoids.
- Parallel advances in artificial‑intelligence control are expanding robot agility: researchers at UC Berkeley and Stanford unveiled the BeyondMimic framework, enabling a humanoid to sprint, spin‑kick and combine a wide repertoire of human‑like motions without task‑specific retraining, while NVIDIA’s SONIC controller, described in a late‑August Science Robotics paper, translates VR, video and language commands into robot actions, further broadening motion repertoires.
- South Korea showcased its KAIROS AI humanoid at the Global Forum on Mechanical Engineering on September 7, demonstrating traditional dance and dynamic full‑body motions, and industry data released on September 9 confirmed that China now accounts for about 97 % of global humanoid‑robot shipments, with domestic output projected at over 62 000 units in 2026.
- Media outlets in the United States and Europe have highlighted these developments, noting Xpeng’s video of IRON exiting the assembly line on September 11 and the broader race between Chinese and American firms to bring mass‑produced, AI‑driven humanoids to market.
QR Code
Gasgoo Munich-"The latest data shows that China accounts for 97% of global humanoid robot exports and manufacturing."
Jin Bing, a former deputy director and first-class inspector at the State Post Bureau’s policy and regulations department, cited those figures on September 9 during the Converged Intelligent Industry Development Conference (2026).
For years, the industry was still proving whether humanoid robots could even be built. Walking, running, jumping, and the ability of dexterous hands to grasp objects were often the most direct calling cards for a robotics company.
By 2026, however, the questions keeping the industry awake are shifting. Data presented by Jin shows global shipments of general-purpose humanoid robots reached about 18,000 units in 2025, while China is expected to ship 62,500 units domestically in 2026. Production lines capable of 10,000 units are already up and running, and deliveries by leading players have quickly surged from hundreds to thousands—and beyond.
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Image source: Screenshot from Deputy Director Jin Bing’s presentation
Humanoid robots are transitioning from laboratory curiosities into genuine industrial products. That shift is already visible in the data. The State Taxation Administration previously disclosed that revenue for China’s embodied intelligence sector climbed 22.4% year-on-year in the first five months of 2026. Robot manufacturers saw a 30.1% jump, while AI algorithm and software integrators rose 24.5%, and system integration firms grew 27.9%.
Beyond the OEMs, the upstream supply chain is heating up as well.
Motors, batteries, reducers, lead screws, sensors, and structural components—along with the vast supplier network that once served the automotive, consumer electronics, and industrial automation sectors—are all pivoting toward humanoid robotics. The manufacturing prowess China has accumulated over decades is rapidly absorbing this new industry.
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