Robotics companies frequently secure large-scale funding, accelerating the overall industrialization process

Reporter Mao Yirong

At the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, multiple companies showcased humanoid robot products, demonstrating China’s advantages in cluster control, hardware manufacturing, and mass production capabilities in the humanoid robot industry.

As the humanoid robot sector heats up, the pace of capital raising and investment activities among related companies is accelerating. Zhihui Square (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Zhihui Square”) completed over 1 billion RMB in Series B funding on February 23; Qianxun Intelligent (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Qianxun Intelligent”) announced nearly 2 billion RMB in two consecutive funding rounds on February 24, with leading investors such as Yunfeng Fund, Chaos Investment, and Sequoia China; domestic agile robot benchmark company Beijing Yinshi Robot Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of Series C1 and C2 funding rounds on February 24, totaling several hundred million RMB.

Accelerating Investment and Financing Pace

Industry Capital Betting

Behind the investment and financing activities in the humanoid robot industry, industry capital is frequently involved. For example, behind Qianxun Intelligent are CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited), Shenzhen Inovance Technology Co., Ltd., and others; Zhihui Square has attracted strategic investments from Baidu, CRRC Capital, and several listed Tesla ecosystem supply chain companies. The involvement of industry capital alleviates concerns about the technological feasibility of companies.

In fact, looking at past years’ investment data, the number of humanoid robot financing events has continued to grow significantly. According to UBS, investments in humanoid robots in China increased from just 6 cases in 2022 to 40 cases in 2024, with total investment rising from $63 million to $562 million.

Entering 2025, the pace of financing in the humanoid robot industry has quickened. According to Guotai Haitong, in the first three quarters of 2025, there were 610 financing events related to humanoid robots domestically, totaling about 50 billion RMB, a substantial year-over-year increase; over 200 domestic companies involved in the core robot hardware, accounting for more than half of the global total; multiple investors entered the market, shifting from purely financial support to deep integration of “capital + resources.”

Additionally, since the second half of 2025, companies like Qianxun Intelligent, Xingdong Jiyuan, Galaxy General, and Zhihui Square have each secured around 1 billion RMB in a single funding round.

Guohai Securities research report believes that under the wave of electrification and intelligence, humanoid robot products are continuously iterating, opening up broader market prospects than the automotive industry, and the industry chain will face significant “from zero to one” investment opportunities. Continuous product iteration from hardware to components, along with rapid business cooperation and scene application development, actively explores large-scale production and commercial deployment of humanoid robots.

Optimistic Mass Production Expectations

“Brain” Technology Is the Core Challenge

Despite the significant traffic effect brought by the Spring Festival Gala and ongoing capital investment, the humanoid robot industry still faces core challenges in transitioning from “performance” to “practicality,” mainly in technological validation and scene adaptation. From industrial applications, Galaxy General has entered production lines of CATL and Bosch Germany; Qianxun Intelligent has launched the world’s first humanoid embodied intelligence production line at CATL. In service scenarios, Galaxy General’s “Galaxy Space Cabin” convenience stores have been established in over 20 cities with more than 100 outlets.

Beyond technology and scene adaptation, industry chain collaboration and cost control are also key to breakthroughs. In terms of core components, companies like Suzhou Lude Harmonic Drive Technology Co., Ltd. and Fengtiao Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. reported impressive performance forecasts for 2025, indicating initial commercialization capabilities in the industry chain.

Regarding costs, although manufacturing costs for humanoid robots have significantly decreased, there is still room for further reduction. Specifically, different component plans will affect material costs differently. UBS estimates that, based on the structure of Tesla’s Optimus Gen2 robot, the hand, rotary, and linear actuators account for approximately 10%, 18%, and 36% of material costs, respectively. Other material costs include the chassis, batteries, chips, and more.

Many institutions believe that the industrialization of humanoid robots is approaching, but core technologies and supporting industry chains still need continuous improvement. Guotai Haitong Securities’ chief analyst of machinery, Xiao Qunxi, told Securities Daily that in terms of mass production capacity, domestic humanoid robot orders exceeded 4.6 billion RMB in 2025, with over 20,000 units ordered. Companies like Yushu Technology and upstream and downstream enterprises such as UBTECH and Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Control are actively expanding capacity and overseas markets.

However, the industry still faces certain shortcomings. The “brain”—the embodied intelligence top-level decision-making system with real-time response, generalization, and multi-modal fusion—remains a core challenge, and breakthroughs here will directly determine the industry’s explosive growth pace.

Wang Feili, chief analyst of China industrials at UBS Securities, told Securities Daily that the accelerated financing of humanoid robot companies is mainly driven by advances in AI technology, which enhance product capabilities and market prospects. However, the industry still faces challenges such as limited datasets and the lack of fully adapted AI large models, resulting in incomplete autonomous capabilities.

Regarding the timeline for commercialization and scene deployment, Wang Feili predicts that large-scale commercialization of humanoid robots is expected after 2030. In the short term, active investment and financing will support R&D efforts, but some companies are involved in non-core areas, increasing competition, and OEMs face ongoing funding pressures. In the long run, as humanoid robots enabled by AI provide more value-added services, there will be significant demand in household scenarios. Compared to other downstream scenes, household applications demand lower prices and easier maintenance.

Besides “brain” technology, large-scale application of humanoid robots also faces other key bottlenecks. Specifically, battery technology and generalization ability remain critical factors determining whether humanoid robots can enter more scenarios and achieve large-scale deployment. Companies need to continue investing in R&D to overcome technical bottlenecks.

Overall, market expectations for the speed of humanoid robot mass production are optimistic. Goldman Sachs recently reported that shipments are expected to reach 51,000 units in 2026 and 76,000 units in 2027, a significant increase from 15,000 to 20,000 units in 2025, driven by applications in industry, logistics, research, and entertainment.