China’s EV Titans Make a Robotic Leap
At the 2025 CCTV New Year Gala in China, a performance watched by over a billion people, 16 humanoid robots took center stage. Clad in bright floral print jackets, they joined human dancers in a traditional Yangko dance, twirling red handkerchiefs in time with the music. These robots, however, weren’t originally designed for this purpose. They were made for general use by Unitree, and they’re already reshaping China’s electric vehicle (EV) sector.
As the EV market in China evolves, with a few major players gaining dominance, Chinese EV companies are expanding aggressively into humanoid robotics. This move is driven by economics, but also by the existing advantages these companies offer: robust supply chains and years of experience crafting cutting-edge technology.
Robots like the H1, which performed at the televised gala, have already been integrated into Chinese EV factories. This has happened due to partnerships between Unitree and EV producers such as BYD and XPeng. Now, China’s EV manufacturers are taking it a step further: creating their own humanoid robots.
EV Companies Building Robots
GAC Group, a state-owned automaker, is developing the GoMate robot to install wires in cars on its production lines. The company plans to begin mass-producing GoMate by 2026 for use in both factories and warehouses. Nio, an EV startup known for its battery-swap network, has partnered with robot maker UBTech while also setting up its own internal research and development team to build humanoid robots.
According to data from Shenzhen New Strategy Media’s Industrial Research Institute, there were more than 160 humanoid-robot manufacturers worldwide as of June 2024. Over 60 of them are in China, with more than 30 in the United States and about 40 in Europe. China leads in the number of manufacturers, especially given the backing from its EV sector.
Thanks in part to considerable government subsidies and efforts from the tech sector, China is the world’s most extensive EV market and manufacturer. In 2024, 54% of cars sold in China were electric or hybrid, compared to 8% in the US. Furthermore, China was the first nation to reach an annual production of 10 million “new energy vehicles” (NEVs), which includes any vehicle powered by electricity.
Why the Shift to Robotics?
The EV companies that achieved this growth have amassed considerable capital, technology, and industry recognition. Leading firms like Li Auto, XPeng, and Nio, each founded roughly a decade ago, are familiar names. Traditional makers that transitioned to EV production, such as BYD and Geely, have also emerged as major tech world players due to their engineering skills and the AI-powered driving features they’ve introduced.
However, despite the rapid growth of the EV market, profit margins are declining. From 2018 to 2023, the number of NEV companies dropped from over 480 to about 40 because of consolidation and bankruptcies. Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics shows that since 2021, profit margins in China’s automotive sector have fallen from 6.1% to 4.6%.
Last year also saw several Chinese EV companies undergo large-scale layoffs. Intense price and technology competition has emerged, with companies like BYD offering advanced autonomous-driving features in more affordable models. This situation has created a pressing need for new avenues of investment and growth.
“This situation compels automakers to seek cost reductions,” says Yao Jia, a robotics researcher at Aegon Industrial Fund, “while crafting narratives that bolster investor confidence—both of which are driving them toward humanoid robotics.” Technological overlap is a significant factor driving EV companies into the robotics arena.
Both fields rely on various capabilities, such as environmental perception and machine interaction, using sensors and algorithms that can process outside information to guide machine movements. Lidar and depth cameras, initially developed for autonomous driving, are being repurposed for robotics.
XPeng’s Iron robot uses the same path-planning and object-recognition algorithms as its EVs, making it possible for them to be used in factory environments. Battery technology is another area where the technology is crossing over. GAC’s GoMate robot uses EV-derived battery packs, which allows it to run for six hours.
China’s Advantage: The Supply Chain
China’s established supply chain infrastructure supports these developments. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, China controls 63% of crucial global supply chain companies for humanoid-robot components, especially in actuator parts and rare earth processing. This allows Chinese manufacturers to produce humanoid robots at lower prices than global competitors. Unitree’s H1 costs $90,000—less than half the price of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, a comparable model.
“The supply chain advantage could give China an upper hand when the robots hit the point of mass manufacturing,” Yao notes.
Challenges on the Horizon
Challenges persist in artificial intelligence and chip development, which are still dominated by companies outside of China, such as Nvidia, TSMC, Palantir, and Qualcomm.
“Domestic humanoid-robot research largely focuses on hardware and application scenarios. Compared to international counterparts, I feel there is insufficient attention to the maturity and reliability of control software,” says Jiayi Wang, a researcher at the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence.
In the meantime, the Chinese government is promoting automation through initiatives like the Robotics+ action plan, which aims to double the country’s manufacturing robot density by 2025 relative to 2020 levels. Additionally, some provincial governments are offering research and development subsidies covering up to 30% of project costs to encourage innovation in automation technologies.
China is focused on becoming a global leader in robotics and automation, just as it has in EVs. Wang Xingxing, CEO of Unitree Robots, perhaps said it best in a recent interview: “Robotics is where EVs were a decade ago—a trillion-yuan battlefield waiting to be claimed.”
