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Billion-Dollar Investments, Expanding Humanoids, and Highly Automated Industrial Lines Show How China Accelerates a Transformation That Already Reaches Factories, Commerce, and Research Centers, While Manufacturers Compete to Bring More Advanced Machines to Commercial Applications.
China is advancing the transformation of robotics into a scaled industry, with around 200 companies involved in the development of humanoids, as well as machines aimed at commerce, industry, and highly automated production lines with little or no human intervention.
This movement gained visibility during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in July 2026 in Shanghai, where manufacturers showcased equipment capable of serving customers, retrieving products, packing goods, and performing tasks that were previously mainly dependent on human workers.
At the same time, progress occurs in a market still far from fully replacing labor, even as it receives significant public and private investments and occupies a relevant space among the economic and technological priorities defined by Beijing.
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According to Reuters, Chinese authorities have allocated at least US$ 20 billion to the development of the sector since 2024, reinforcing a strategy that combines funding, industrial expansion, and encouragement of the creation of technologies capable of increasing the presence of robots across various sectors.
Humanoid Robots Progress in the Chinese Market
For now, the commercial use of humanoids still faces limitations related to reliability, dexterity, and autonomy, especially outside controlled environments, even though these machines have already appeared in factories, warehouses, retail locations, and research-related projects.
In many of these applications, however, human supervision remains necessary, indicating that commercial adoption is progressing gradually as manufacturers strive to enhance autonomy, reduce failures, and enable the continuous execution of repetitive tasks.
In this context, competition among companies focuses on overcoming these limitations and developing equipment capable of running for longer periods, maintaining stable performance, and operating in spaces originally designed for human workers.
From a commercial perspective, the goal is to reduce costs for certain activities and allow robots to occupy environments designed for people, avoiding the need for complete reconstructions and facilitating the gradual incorporation of these machines into already operational structures.
Although the technological race has accelerated, the current scale remains small compared to projections for the coming years, especially since a large portion of the equipment sold is still aimed at research, education, testing, and public demonstrations.
Data cited by Reuters indicates that China sold about 12,000 humanoids in 2025, but much of this equipment has not yet been directed toward the direct replacement of workers in continuously performed commercial or industrial operations.
Still, financial expectations help explain the growing volume of investments directed to the sector, mainly as manufacturers seek to expand production capacity while trying to turn technological demonstrations into applications that can generate recurring revenue.
Morgan Stanley estimates that humanoid sales in China could exceed US$ 15 billion by 2030, a prospect that heightens competition among manufacturers eager to secure market space before these machines achieve a broader presence.
Industrial Automation Keeps Factories Running Continuously
More established than humanoids, traditional industrial automation is concretely showcasing the reach of Chinese robotization, particularly in the electronics and automotive sectors, where specialized equipment performs specific tasks with high speed, precision, and consistency.
Currently, China has over 2 million industrial robots, machines used for functions such as welding and material handling that, because they are designed for specific tasks, demonstrate reliability levels superior to those found in the humanoids available today.
In a factory visited by Poder360 in 2025, for example, automation allowed for the production of approximately 1.7 million cells for solar panels per day, keeping the line operational for 24 hours without workers directly involved in the described production process.
This type of installation helps illustrate the difference between two stages of Chinese robotization, as industrial arms and specialized equipment are already executing continuous operations, while humanoids still need to develop sufficient autonomy to tackle varied environments and less predictable tasks.
During this transition, workers and machines must continue to share industrial spaces, particularly because different technologies are being integrated simultaneously, from autonomous equipment aimed at specific functions to robots controlled by people and humanoids capable of learning new activities.
Productive modernization, therefore, does not depend on a single category of equipment but on the combination of specialized systems, conventional automation, and new robotic platforms that can assume different functions depending on the complexity required in each environment.
GD01 Places Chinese Robots in the Millions Category
Among the machines showcased in Shanghai was the GD01 from Chinese company Unitree, a controllable device developed within the category known as mecha, distinguished from conventional humanoids mainly by its larger size and the requirement for human control.
Unveiled in May 2026, the model attracted attention for combining much larger dimensions than those seen in smaller robots with a proposal aimed at augmenting human capacity to move loads and control larger mechanical structures.
The announced price for one unit is US$ 650,000, a value converted by Poder360 to approximately R$ 3.2 million in an August 2026 publication, placing the GD01 in a price range far from small humanoids aimed at repetitive tasks.
Rather than immediately removing the worker from operation, equipment of this size demonstrates another possibility for the relationship between people and machines, where the robot functions as a mechanical extension controlled by an operator during activities that require greater physical capabilities.
This approach also helps explain why the expansion of robotics does not occur uniformly, as each application demands distinct levels of autonomy, control, safety, and precision before being permanently integrated into a commercial or industrial operation.
Competition Grows Among Robot Manufacturers in China
As new applications are tested, the sector’s expansion is happening in an increasingly crowded environment, marked by dozens of manufacturers competing for investments, contracts, and space in a market whose growth potential attracts both private companies and state support.
Chinese authorities cited by Reuters warned in 2025 about the risk of over-investment and pointed to approximately 150 humanoid manufacturers, while broader surveys used by Poder360 estimate that about 200 companies are dedicated to making models in this segment.
Throughout 2026, Chinese manufacturers continue to ramp up production while commercial applications remain in the testing phase, driven by a combination of state support, a local supply chain for components, accumulated experience in automation, and intense competition among various companies.
With factories capable of operating virtually without people directly on the production line and humanoids attempting to move from the lab to stores, warehouses, and industries, China is increasingly testing the boundaries between specialized automation, human labor, and autonomous robotics.
How long will human presence remain essential when these machines achieve higher levels of autonomy, reliability, and adaptability in environments that still require constant supervision today?
