Humanoid Robots Labeled Next Big Bubble For Chinese Companies – CleanTechnica

---

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

---

Elon Musk thinks he is the smartest person on Earth, and maybe he’s right. If the number of zeros in your bank balance are any measure of intelligence, his IQ may be well over 300! He was the first to bring electric cars to the mass market. Then China got the EV bit between its teeth and quickly came to dominate the space. Musk foresaw the appeal of battery electric trucks, but once again, China is busy doing while Tesla is still dithering — 8 years after announcing its Semi was in the works.

Then Elon got stars in his eyes about autonomous cars and promised they would be here soon — very soon! But once again, Chinese companies stole a march on Musk by introducing self-driving platforms of their own. BYD may actually have been trolling Musk’s use of hyperbolic names like Full Self Driving for systems that are only sort of full self driving by naming the technology in its cars God’s Eye. It’s going to be hard to top that.

It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses for those Chinese companies, however. The central government doesn’t pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Instead, it establishes the playing field and lets those who want to participate slug it out for market dominance. The result is that a lot of Chinese EV companies are selling cars below cost in an effort to claw out some market share. That’s a strategy, but not one that leads to profits, and so many of those companies are getting squeezed out as the EV bubble in China implodes.

Humanoid Robots For The Win!

Another area where Musk thinks he will find success is in humanoid robots. But once again, the Chinese are busy building while Musk makes grand pronouncements. Now, according to Bloomberg, humanoids may be the next great bubble in the Chinese economy.

On November 27, 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission, which sets economic strategy and policy, said more than 150 Chinese companies have rushed into the humanoid space. Li Chao, a spokesperson for the commission, told reporters in Beijing that China must prevent a flood of robots from overwhelming the market and squeezing out real research and development initiatives.

China sees these robots as a catalyst for future economic activity. In fact, in its guidelines for the next five-year economic plan, it has designated the robot industry as one of six new economic growth drivers. But in the recent past, over-spending on bikesharing and semi-conductors has led to several smaller firms being squeezed out, just as may be happening in the automotive sector today. “Frontier industries have long grappled with the challenge of balancing the speed of growth against the risk of bubbles — an issue now confronting the humanoid robot sector as well,” Li said.

Humanoid robot development and investment have exploded since dancing robots from Unitree drew a nationwide audience during the Spring Festival Gala earlier this year. Unitree founder Wang Xingxing was seated prominently in the front row during a meeting between tech leaders such as Jack Ma and Xi Jinping in February. Since then, robots from fast-growing startups such as AgiBot and Galbot have been featured on social media running marathons, kickboxing, and making coffee.

Li Chao told the press on Thursday that Chinese authorities will continue to speed up efforts to build mechanisms for market entry and exit to create an environment of fair competition. In particular, the government will accelerate research and development of core technologies while supporting the construction of training and testing infrastructure, she added. In addition, the government will also promote the consolidation and sharing of technology and industrial resources in the sector across the nation to expedite the application of humanoid robots in real life.

In case you are a Luddite like me who wonders why on Earth people would spend perfectly good money on a machine to make coffee or water the flowers, CitiGroup says it expects there will be about 650 million humanoid robots in the world by 2050 — there are 1.2 billion vehicles in the world today. It says the market will be worth $7 trillion. That may be so, but Bloomberg warns that widespread adoption of them by households or factories is many years away.

Do You Love Me, Now That I Can Dance?

EngineAI caused quite a stir earlier this year when its humanoid robot showed it was capable of learning a complex dance after watching a short demonstration. I confess I could not accomplish that feat if I had a month to get it right. I have accepted the fact that I will never appear on “Dancing With The Stars,” although a humanoid robot very well may.

In April, Elon Musk said he thinks his Optimus robots lead the industry in performance, but China may end up dominating the field. “I’m a little concerned that on the leader board, ranks 2 through 10 will be Chinese companies,” he said. Here’s a video of Musk’s Optimus doing its dancing shtick.

Power Vs. Profits

Frankly, both videos are quite impressive, but dancing is hardly what will sell these machines to the buying public. Bloomberg suggests there is more at stake than profits. The strategic implications for governments and countries far outweigh any such pedestrian considerations. ” Whoever leads development of these humanoids could potentially command an army of indefatigable workers, caregivers and soldiers, redefining economic and political strength.”

Oh, joy. Humans have found yet another way to make war. That will come in handy when disputes over access to fresh water and food develop as alterations to the Earth’s climate begin to hit home. Musk claimed in mid-May that the global economy could grow to 10 times its current size with the addition of robot labor.

“It unlocks an immense amount of economic potential,” Musk said during an appearance in Saudi Arabia. “We’re headed to a radically different world.” More joy for those who espouse the notion of continuous growth on a planet with finite resources.

Societal Changes

For China, the allure of humanoid robots is a reaction to trends in Chinese society that many fear will lead to far fewer workers than will be needed to maintain the nation’s frantic manufacturing surge. According to research done for the Chinese Communist Party, the working-age population is expected to shrink by about 22 percent between now and 2050.

In manufacturing, the projection is that around 30 million jobs in 10 sectors will find no human takers by the end of this year, according to a report from government agencies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The shortage of workers is being aggravated by the reluctance of younger people in China to take the kind of blue collar factory jobs their parents embraced.

China’s robots are already being put to productive use. UBTech Robotics, based in Shenzhen, has deployed its Walker S1 robot to help assemble iPhones for Foxconn. More than 500 of its machines work in the auto factories of BYD, Geely, and FAW-Volkswagen, where they lift boxes, sort components, and test instruments. At the FAW-Volkswagen plant, they detect refrigerant leaks in air conditioning systems, a task that carries significant health risks for humans.

A Humanoid In Every Kitchen?

But not everyone is convinced humanoid robots are necessary. They “just don’t make economic sense for most people and companies for the foreseeable future,” Romain Moulin, CEO of the French startup Exotec, told Bloomberg. The company makes box-like robots for warehouse task that he says are more utilitarian.

We have witnessed what can happen when the Chinese government puts its muscle behind an idea. It is why China leads in solar and wind energy; battery storage; electric cars, trucks, and buses; HVDC transmission, and high-speed rail. Humanoid robots are obviously next on its to-do list.

Elon Musk may think he can out-gun the Chinese, but Tesla has been losing market share in all major markets to the Chinese in electric cars. What evidence is there that Tesla’s push to develop humanoid robots will fare any better? Readers are welcome to share their answers to that question in the comments.