AI-powered humanoids are set to become a game-changer in the manufacturing industry in China led by companies like AgiBot, Unitree and Casbot, as they are taught to handle mundane and repetitive tasks.
A Reuters article cites a vast Shanghai warehouse, where operators guide rows of humanoid robots to fold T-shirts, make sandwiches, and open doors, repetitive tasks that yield terabytes of training data.
State-backed AI firms lead the robotics charge
AgiBot, a homegrown startup, runs these robots 17 hours a day, refining their software so that future factories might see robots assembling themselves.
Other players, such as Unitree and Casbot, are demonstrating impressive agility, from half-marathons to football tricks, fueling President Xi Jinping’s vision of an “industrial revolution” powered by intelligent machines.
To ensure China’s robots become economically viable, authorities have mobilized colossal funding. Over the past year, the central government allocated more than ¥1 trillion (about $138 billion) into AI and robotics innovation, while a dedicated national fund is backing startups across hardware, software, and data.
Local governments sweeten the deal; Wuhan-based component makers can receive up to ¥5 million (about $0.7 million) in subsidies, Shenzhen rolled out a ¥10 billion (approximately $1.4 billion) fund, and Beijing’s robotics scheme offered up to ¥30 million (about $4.2 million) grants for first-product development.
Meanwhile, state procurement of humanoids skyrocketed to ¥214 million (approximately $30 million) in 2024 from just ¥4.7 million (about $0.65 million) a year earlier.
China’s dominance in component manufacture, covering some 90% of parts, gives it an edge in driving down costs. Bank of America Securities forecasts that the average bill of materials for a humanoid will fall from around $35,000 today to $17,000 by 2030.
“With its comprehensive supply chain, China has an edge in lowering the humanoid robot production cost significantly,” according to Ming Hsun Lee, head of Greater China automotive and industrial research at Bank of America Securities.
Some domestic firms predict even faster halving of costs, undercutting rivals like Tesla, whose Optimus robots carry a component price tag of $50,000–$60,000 when sourced abroad. Rapid supplier responsiveness in China, where if you need a part in the morning, it arrives by afternoon, fuels this efficiency.
Are workers in China safe from the rise in humanoid robots?
Unlike text-based generative models, humanoid robots demand specialized “embodied AI” training on physical tasks, stacking boxes, pouring liquids, inspecting parts. Recognizing this bottleneck, municipal authorities have provided rent-free facilities; Shanghai’s data site hosts 100 robots and 200 human operators, while similar hubs are arising in Beijing and Shenzhen.
The result is high-quality, task-focused datasets that power AI frameworks from DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, to ByteDance’s Doubao, enabling startups like MagicLab to deploy prototypes on real production lines for assembly, material handling, and quality checks.
However, with 123 million workers in manufacturing, China faces the prospect of large-scale job displacement, estimated to affect 70% of the sector. Policymakers are weighing measures such as AI unemployment insurance offering six to 12 months of support.
Market analysts argue that humanoids will first tackle monotonous or hazardous roles in factories and elder care, where demand is surging due to an aging population. Government guidelines now encourage robots in elderly services, exemplified by Ant Group’s new Ant Lingbo subsidiary focusing on care assistants.
China’s integrated approach, fusing hardware mastery, state financing, data infrastructures, and cloud platforms, positions it at the vanguard of a robot-powered industrial shift. As costs plummet and AI models mature, humanoid workers may proliferate across assembly lines, care homes, and beyond.
While short-term labor disruptions loom, long-term growth opportunities beckon, mirroring past technological revolutions. Ultimately, China’s dual emphasis on computing power and embodied AI could redefine the global manufacturing order, charting a path toward self-assembling, self-learning robotic ecosystems.
KEY Difference Wire: the secret tool crypto projects use to get guaranteed media coverage
