Humanoid Robots Part 2: China's Playbook for Building Its Own Robot Supply Chain
From EVs to robots: how China is racing to localize the supply chain, and where challenges remain
In Part 1 of the humanoid robot series, TrendForce noted that China’s rapid rise in humanoid robotics has put real pressure on US manufacturers. That pressure has now escalated into containment at the national policy level.
In June 2026, the US Department of Defense added Unitree to its Section 1260H list of “Chinese Military Companies”. On July 28, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced plans to restrict imports of new foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots. The move is driven not only by national security concerns but also by an effort to boost the development of America’s own advanced robotics industry. Widely interpreted as targeting China, it begs an obvious question: just how critical a role does China actually play in the global supply chain?
Related report: US Restrictions on Humanoid Robot Imports Temporarily Curb Chinese Competition While Driving Long-Term Supply Chain Restructuring
Policy Initiatives and the Industry Ecosystem for Humanoid Robots in China
China’s humanoid robot industry entered a phase of rapid growth in 2025, with companies such as Unitree and AgiBot each shipping over a thousand units that year. According to TrendForce, China’s 2026 production volume is expected to account for nearly 70% of the global total. Driven by government policy, the industry is moving toward standardization and use-case segmentation, facilitating subsequent model training and data collection while providing a cohesive framework for industry development.
At the same time, China is deploying state-backed capital to subsidize the development of the robotics sector, while promoting open-source frameworks to incentivize the sharing of technologies and research outcomes, reducing redundant R&D expenditures. Technologically, these policies explicitly target three foundational pillars: embodied AI models, motion control algorithms, and core hardware components, systematically cultivating a comprehensive industry ecosystem.
In terms of product development, China currently concentrates on general-purpose functionality, which requires robots to operate across multiple scenarios and tasks. This calls for hardware specifications with mature motion control, environmental sensing, and recognition capabilities, combined with large AI models and highly efficient, low-latency computing, to approach human-like reaction speeds and intelligent behavior.
However, at the current stage, limited production capacity and high unit costs make it difficult to deploy humanoid robots at scale for data collection in the near term. Compared to household environments, which involve high use-case diversity and extreme privacy sensitivity, structured settings such as logistics warehouses and factory floors offer greater environmental controllability and easier data access, making them the primary deployment scenarios at this stage.
Below, we will explore:
Why the shift from extreme performance to practical reliability is changing what key components need to deliver
How China is targeting the movement and power planes as its breakthrough point for domestic substitution, with a supply chain breakdown
TrendForce’s view on what it will really take for China to scale up
Related report: Development of China’s Humanoid Robot Industry: Supply Chain Self-Sufficiency and Challenges for Key Components