China is winning the humanoid robot wars, striding past their U.S. rivals such as Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA) in shipments, price and sales.
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According to new data from Omdia, Chinese humanoid robot makers dominated the market in 2025, with five firms in the top 10, and it could be the same pattern in 2026.
Thousands of Humanoids
Market research firm Omdia found that start-up Shanghai AgiBot Innovation Technology was top of the robot class, shipping 5,168 humanoids last year. That amounts to around 40% of the overall market.
Unitree Robotics, whose models are well-versed in winning sporting medals for their athleticism, sprinted to second spot with 4,200 humanoids. That accounted for a third of the overall market. UBTech was third with annual shipments of 1,000 units.
In its report, General-Purpose Embodied Robotics Market Radar, Omdia said the global humanoid robot market entered a phase of rapid growth in 2025, with total shipments expected to reach about 13,000 units for the year.
Humanoid robots are built and designed to look like and move like human beings. They are powered by AI algorithms and complex hardware like semiconductors. They could be used in a whole range of settings from the battlefield, to the factory floor, in hospital surgeries or dusting away the cobwebs in your living room.
U.S. Robots Yet to Fire
Global sales more than quintupled from 2024, the figures said, highlighting interest in what some refer to as “physical AI”, as well as the ability of Chinese companies to produce such robots at industrial scale.
“Chinese vendors are setting benchmarks in large-scale production,” Omdia said.
U.S. firms are still very much in the early stage of development such as Tesla’s Optimus, which is set to begin mass production in 2026. Last year, Nvidia launched the Isaac GR00T N1, the world’s first open, fully customizable foundation model for generalized humanoid reasoning and skills. It can grasp, move objects with one or both arms, and transfer items from one arm to another.
Another plus for Chinese firms is the cost of their robots, with Unitree offering an entry-level model for $6,000 (£4,466) and AgiBot selling one unit for $14,000. That compares with a projected $20,000 to $30,000 for Optimus.
Omdia said humanoid robot shipments are likely to grow to 2.6 million in 2035 due to increasingly capable AI models, dexetrous physical manipulators and other factors.
Goldman Sachs estimates that the global humanoid robot market could grow from about $3 billion in 2023 to as much as $38 billion by 2035. Morgan Stanley projects even faster growth, saying the sector could reach $5 trillion by 2050, supported by sales of robots, spare parts, maintenance, and services.
At the CES trade show in Las Vegas this week, China again dominated with Unitree reportedly now showing off robots doing acrobatic routines.
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