From phones to humanoid robots: China’s supply chain eyes next growth curve

China’s smartphone and electronics supply chain is adapting its expertise to support the country’s fledgling but fast-growing humanoid robotics industry, as component suppliers seek new growth beyond a slowing mobile market. The sector received a glimpse of that crossover after Honor’s humanoid robot D1, a dark-horse entrant from the smartphone maker, won Beijing’s recent robot half-marathon, beating established Chinese robotics names such as Unitree. Honor entered the humanoid robotics sector only last year. Its robot, Lightning, beat the human world record by more than six minutes. After the race, Honor engineer Yao Bin told Chinese media outlet ThePaper.cn that one reason for the win was the transfer of smartphone cooling technology to robots, which kept the motor cool after running 21km. Major smartphone suppliers including Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology and AAC Technologies supplied structural components for Honor’s D1. A new growth curve Smartphone and electronics component suppliers are targeting a robotics market that is moving towards mass production and large-scale deployment. The humanoid robotics market was projected to exceed 100,000 units by 2027, up sixfold from 16,000 units in 2025, with logistics, manufacturing and automotive applications expected to account for 72 per cent of installations, according to Counterpoint Research. That expansion comes as the smartphone market slowed amid a memory chip shortage. Global smartphone shipments are forecast to fall 12.9 per cent in 2026, to 1.12 billion units, the industry’s largest decline on record, according to IDC. “Everyone is looking for a new growth curve,” said Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. “And since there is plenty of room for the reuse of the technology and production capacity, why wouldn’t they use it?” Lam said there was significant technological overlap between smartphones and robots, including precision assembly for camera modules, micro-electromechanical systems sensors, high-density batteries and haptic tuning for tactile motors. “These have already been scaled to maturity within the smartphone supply chain,” Lam said. “They fit closely with the requirements for robotic joint sensing and end-effectors, with very similar standards for precision manufacturing.” Early orders are in Other major smartphone suppliers have also begun securing hefty orders from robotics clients. Everwin Precision, a Shenzhen-based component supplier to the consumer electronics and electric vehicle industries, delivered 690,000 units of precision parts to humanoid robot clients in 2025, generating 100 million yuan (US$14.6 million) in sales, according to its annual report. The segment accounted for less than 1 per cent of Everwin’s total revenue in 2025, when nearly two-thirds of sales came from consumer electronics. Even so, the company expects humanoid robotics to become its next growth driver. Lingyi iTech, a key Apple supplier, had reportedly secured an order from AgiBot, one of China’s leading humanoid robotics companies, to supply structural components for more than 10,000 robots, according to Chinese media outlet TMT Post on Thursday, citing industry sources. Lingyi and AgiBot declined to comment. Lingyi had announced a major push into humanoid robotics, aiming to become one of the top three suppliers of embodied-intelligence hardware. The company had supplied “several thousand” units of hardware and assembly services to major humanoid robotics firms, according to its 2025 annual report. Last September, Lingyi and AgiBot formed a joint venture focused on humanoid robot development and assembly, with the Apple supplier holding an 80 per cent stake. Lingyi also opened a robotics factory in Beijing this month, aiming to increase capacity from 10,000 units this year to 20,000 in 2027 and 500,000 by 2030. An extension, not a pivot Honor is not alone in trying to apply smartphone know-how to robotics. Xiaomi has also made an aggressive move into the sector, deploying self-developed humanoid robots for car production. “Essentially, this is more of an extension of existing capacity and expertise, rather than a ‘pivot’,” Lam said. But the transition had practical challenges, starting with error tolerance, he added. “Robotics demands far higher precision and reliability than smartphones, which directly impacts the difficulty of moving from research and development to mass production,” Lam said. At a recent robotics trade fair in Shenzhen, the shift was already visible. At the booth of Seavo Technology, a motherboard supplier, manager Zhang Qifu fielded a steady stream of visitors asking how the company’s mainboards could support reasoning and motion control in robot development. The 33-year-old company, which serves sectors ranging from healthcare to retail, has quickly retooled for embodied intelligence and now has more than 200 robotics clients. “Robotics is currently a very small part of our business, but now everyone is rushing to take a slice of it,” Zhang said at the Fair of AI and Robotics Plus in late April.

From phones to humanoid robots: China’s supply chain eyes next growth curve

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A slowdown in global smartphone shipments is driving Chinese electronics suppliers to pivot towards humanoid robots

A new growth curve

A slowdown in global smartphone shipments is driving Chinese electronics suppliers to pivot towards humanoid robots