The hype surrounding humanoid robots is hardly new, fueled largely by Tesla’s Optimus and viral demo clips from Boston Dynamics’ Atlas. Beneath the buzz lies tangible technical progress: robot physical performance keeps improving, and LLM‑derived AI enables complex robots to learn diverse real‑world tasks.
Humanoid Robots: Chinese OEMs Race for Next‑Generation Profit Growth" width="1536" height="1086" />
Driven by these advances, a wave of new entrants — notably Chinese automakers — are betting big on commercial profits from humanoid robots.
Xpeng’s robotics division secured over $900 million in fresh funding, hitting a $6.3‑billion post‑money valuation. Backed by IDG Capital, Gaorong Ventures, Tencent and Alibaba, it marks China’s largest‑ever single financing round for embodied AI. Xpeng’s founders He Xiaopeng and Brian Gu also personally invested roughly $100 million in this round to back Iron, its commercially‑targeted humanoid robot.
Multiple Chinese automotive peers are racing into the space. Chery‑owned AiMOGA is reportedly preparing for an IPO, BYD has unveiled its Xiao Di humanoid robot, while Changan, GAC, Li Auto, SAIC and Seres maintain active humanoid R&D programs.
According to Michael Dunne of Dunne Insights, Xpeng closely follows Tesla’s playbook. “It prioritizes autonomy and has committed heavily to humanoid robots,” Dunne commented. “He Xiaopeng sees thin profit margins for cars ahead, and robots represent far greater upside.” Chinese OEMs bring solid manufacturing capabilities, yet the key challenge remains matching Tesla on AI capabilities.
Global competitors including Agility Robotics, Apptronik and Figure all target large‑scale commercial rollout. Hyundai‑owned Boston Dynamics is moving Atlas toward factory deployment; Hyundai will test the robot at its Georgia plant and aims for task‑based deployment by 2028, cooperating with Google DeepMind to accelerate development. It will also open a U.S. Robot Metaplant Application Center this year.
Other automotive‑linked players are joining the competition: Mobileye acquired humanoid startup Mentee Robotics for $900 million, and Rivian has spun out Mind Robotics for robot development, though its robots will adopt non‑humanoid forms.
