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Robotics
As China bets on tech and innovation to drive its growth, it has placed its chips on several industrial sectors that are expected to play increasingly important roles in development and trade, which will bring fresh opportunities and challenges for stakeholders. SCMP’s China Future Tech is your go-to destination for the latest news, insights, and opinions on these select industries. Explore in-depth coverage of EVs, AI, semiconductors, aerospace, robotics and biomedicine sectors. Follow us to stay ahead in China's evolving competitive landscape.
Alibaba and its fintech affiliate Ant Group are launching their own robotics models in a bid to dominate the next frontier of technology. Photo: AP
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba unveils RynnBrain, an embodied AI model that gives robots a ‘brain’

The model, which was unveiled by Alibaba’s Damo Academy, matched leading embodied models from Google and Nvidia.

Mainland China

Opinion | For clues to China’s next overcapacity cycle, watch the Spring Festival Gala

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China’s private sector

Before the factory floor, the dance floor: robots find path to market at US$145

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Electric & new energy vehicles

Chinese vacuum maker using Temu’s playbook dreams big with Super Bowl debut

Dreame showcases robot vacuum in a Super Bowl commercial, drawing on Temu’s US prime-time campaign that helped it challenge Amazon.com.

Vacuum maker Dreame is hoping to leverage the Super Bowl’s influence to crack the North American market. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

China’s humanoid makers pivot from ‘body’ to ‘brain’ as commercial race heats up

Dobot claims its self-developed vision-language-action model lets humanoid robots react to the real world rather than just perform preprogrammed tasks.

2026 Olympic Winter Games

Video | Dancing robot feature at China House for 2026 Winter Olympics

A dancing robot is star attraction at China’s hospitality house in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

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Artificial intelligence

Funding surge powers Chinese robotics firms as focus shifts to humanoid ‘brains’

State-backed funds, Big Tech drive fresh capital into robotics companies, betting on operating systems that underpin humanoid intelligence.

A humanoid robot at the Beijng World of Robots. A new wave of firms is emerging with capital directed towards robotic software and operating systems. Photo: Xinhua
Mainland China

Video | World’s first ‘biomimetic AI robot’ debuts in Shanghai

The robot, which is able to replicate human micro-expressions and walking postures, will be priced at 1.2 million yuan (US$173,000).

Xpeng

When a robot topples: China’s Xpeng deals with fallout from humanoid’s plunge

CEO draws parallel to toddlers learning to walk before they run, after Iron’s loss of balance becomes viral fodder.

Tesla

‘Optimus chain’: Chinese suppliers form backbone of Tesla’s humanoid robot plans

Tesla’s pivot to producing humanoid robots is expected to engage a network of key Chinese component makers.

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Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot is seen on display at a company showroom in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Forget soulless humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus. This one’s more Wall-E

Fauna Robotics’ humanoid robot Sprout is an attempt to start a focus on ‘approachable’ robots inspired by Wall-E and BB-8, not Terminator.

Fauna Robotics’ new humanoid robot Sprout shows off its dexterity while being operated remotely at the company’s headquarters in New York on January 14, 2026. Photo: AP
Artificial intelligence

Ant Group’s open-source push aims to move robots from lab demos to real-world work

Flashy robots can dance and backflip on cue, but Ant Group is betting open-source AI can take them beyond scripted moves.

Electric & new energy vehicles

How Tesla’s AI shift is prompting Chinese rivals to expand tech offerings

As Tesla diversifies into humanoid robots and self-driving cars, its Chinese competitors are also moving into flying cars, robots and chips.

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Artificial intelligence

China’s humanoid robot sales to double this year as costs fall: Morgan Stanley

The US investment bank revises its China robot sales forecast to 28,000 units this year, while it sees parts prices falling 16 per cent.

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A humanoid robot is seen at the 2025 Global Industrial Internet Conference in Shenyang, Liaoning province, in September 2025. Photo: Xinhua
Electric & new energy vehicles

Tesla reports first ever annual revenue decline as China’s EV giants zoom ahead

Tesla’s vehicle production fell 7 per cent year on year in 2025, as Elon Musk signals company will pivot to humanoid robots.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland. Tesla has reported that its annual revenues declined for the first time in the company’s history in 2025. Photo: EPA
China technology

Opinion | How Hangzhou’s tech ecosystem nurtures dragons and rockets

It’s not one factor but a ‘rainforest’ of policy, capital, talent, universities and research institutions operating within clear boundaries.

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US-China tech war

My Take | Steadfast state support is key to China winning tech race with US

America is shooting itself in the foot by defunding basic research and manpower under the Trump White House.

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Alibaba

Chinese tech giants Tencent and Baidu join fight for Spring Festival spotlight

The two companies launch digital red packet campaigns following tie-up moves by ByteDance and Alibaba with CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala.

The Spring Festival Gala has become one of the most important promotional platforms for tech giants. Photo: Handout
China technology

China’s Eyou opens world’s first automated line for humanoid robot joints

Manufacturer adds line in anticipation of surge in global demand for humanoid robots, with one estimate projecting 100,000 shipments by 2027.

Artificial intelligence

Beijing outlines tech push with focus on AI, 6G, humanoid robots

Tech ministry’s plan targets breakthroughs in AI models, agents and chips, as well as AI’s spread into diverse sectors.

Unitree Robotics

China’s Unitree ships over 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025, surpassing US peers

The Hangzhou-based firm’s output far outstripped the roughly 150 units each shipped by Tesla, Figure AI and Agility Robotics last year.

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A G1 humanoid robot model from Unitree waves at visitors during the 21st China International Equipment & Manufacturing Industry Expo in Tianjin on March 6, 2025. Photo: Xinhua
Mainland China

UBTech partners with Airbus to bring humanoid robots to aviation manufacturing

The deal follows a similar one with US semiconductor maker Texas Instruments, underscoring the Chinese firm’s accelerated overseas push.

In this screengrab from video footage released by UBTech, hundreds of Walker S2 humanoid robots stand in precise formation inside a warehouse. Photo: Baidu
China stock market

China’s advances in AI fuel tech stock boom, help it shake off economic malaise

China’s rise recasts the country from a low-cost base to a credible US tech challenger, just as global capital hunts for next growth engine.

Artificial intelligence

Hong Kong bolsters tech hub ambitions as city hosts global AI summit

Hong Kong’s turn to host a summit under WAIC reflects Beijing’s confidence in the city’s strategic development goals.

Mainland China

China dominates global humanoid robot market with over 80% of installations

AgiBot and Unitree help China capture bulk of global deployments in 2025 as market heads for sixfold growth by 2027, report says.

Visitors take pictures of Unitree robots at a fair in Paris. Photo: Reuters
China Future Tech briefing

AI | Humanoid robot guides to hiker exoskeletons: CES 2026 round-up

Chinese companies comprised about one in four exhibitors at the world’s largest electronics expo, and they showcased everything from stair-climbing robot vacuum cleaners to AI-powered pet companions.

Humanoid robot guides to hiker exoskeletons: CES 2026 round-up
China manufacturing

China vows more support for ‘little giant’-like firms amid self-sufficiency push

Beijing also aims to collect more industrial data and push manufacturers to embrace digital solutions.

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China technology

Chinese firms, led by AgiBot, outpace US rivals in 2025 humanoid robot shipments

‘Chinese vendors are setting benchmarks in large-scale production,’ Omdia analyst Lian Jye Su says.

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