China Humanoid Robot Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Liam Michael | Last updated: August 21, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Chinese vendors shipped an estimated 18,527 humanoid robots in the first half of 2026 — 97% of everything the world delivered — while China’s own Ministry of Industry and Information Technology projects national output above 100,000 units for the full year. According to Axis Intelligence Research, roughly one in four of those projected units has so far reached a commercial or industrial buyer.
Quick Answer
China’s humanoid robot industry produced an estimated 20,000 units in 2025 and MIIT projects more than 100,000 units in 2026. Global humanoid deliveries reached 19,100 units in the first half of 2026, of which Chinese vendors supplied more than 97%. According to Axis Intelligence Research, the China Humanoid Absorption Ratio (CHAR) — commercially and industrially absorbed Chinese-vendor units measured against the straight-line half-year share of MIIT’s own output projection — reads 25.9% as of August 21, 2026. That is the number that matters: the factories are ahead of the customers.
Key Findings
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Chinese vendors shipped approximately 18,527 humanoid robots in the first half of 2026, derived from Smart Analytics Global’s 19,100-unit global delivery count and its estimate that Chinese vendors supplied more than 97% of global shipments.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, the China Humanoid Absorption Ratio stands at 25.9% as of August 21, 2026 — its baseline reading — meaning roughly one commercially or industrially placed unit exists for every four units MIIT expects China to build in 2026.
- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology projects national humanoid robot output above 100,000 units in 2026, a roughly fivefold increase on the approximately 20,000 units produced in 2025.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Unitree Robotics’ first-day close on the STAR Market values the company at approximately RMB 62.14 million — about US$9.09 million — for each of the 5,500-plus humanoid robots it shipped in 2025.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, Chinese vendors shipped approximately 2,292 more humanoid units in the first half of 2026 than Chinese buyers absorbed — a 12.4% net export wedge, struck three weeks before the United States closed its market to new foreign-produced humanoids.
How Many Humanoid Robots Does China Produce?
The headline number comes from the state itself. At the press conference for the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Gan Xiaobin, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology at MIIT, said China’s humanoid robot output is expected to exceed 100,000 units in 2026. Industry reporting from Pandaily, citing the same MIIT briefing, puts the 2025 base at roughly 20,000 units — a fivefold step in one year.
Set that against the category China already dominates. Industrial robot output reached 773,074 units in 2025 per the National Bureau of Statistics, and 143,608 units in January and February 2026 alone, up 31% year on year. On those two figures, 2025’s humanoid output equalled 2.6% of China’s industrial robot units. The humanoid story is loud; the tonnage still sits with six-axis arms bolted to a floor.
China humanoid and industrial robot output, 2025–2026
| Metric | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humanoid robot output (est.) | ~20,000 units | 2025 | MIIT, via Pandaily |
| Humanoid robot output (projected) | >100,000 units | 2026 | MIIT (Gan Xiaobin), July 7, 2026 |
| Industrial robot output | 773,074 units | 2025 | National Bureau of Statistics |
| Industrial robot output | 143,608 units (+31%) | Jan–Feb 2026 | National Bureau of Statistics |
| Service robot output | 2,540,000 units (+1%) | Jan–Feb 2026 | National Bureau of Statistics |
| Humanoid share of industrial robot units | 2.6% | 2025 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
Liam Michael: Output projections in this sector are capacity statements dressed as demand statements. MIIT’s 100,000 is what the assembly lines are being tooled to produce, not what anyone has agreed to buy. The NBS also warned that its service-robot series jumped because new makers entered the sample pool, not because the market moved — a reminder that in a young category the denominator changes underneath you. Read the output number as installed capacity and you will be right more often than the people reading it as a market.
What Is China’s Share of the Global Humanoid Robot Market?
Smart Analytics Global’s mid-August report puts global humanoid deliveries at 19,100 units in the first half of 2026, up from 5,100 a year earlier — a 3.75× increase. Chinese vendors accounted for more than 97% of those shipments; China accounted for more than 85% of demand. AgiBot held 44% of the global market and Unitree 31%.
Two Chinese firms therefore control 75% of global humanoid shipments. In a category three years old, that is not a competitive market — it is a duopoly with a supply chain attached.
Global humanoid robot shipments and share, 1H 2026
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global humanoid deliveries | 19,100 units | 1H 2026 | Smart Analytics Global |
| Global humanoid deliveries | 5,100 units | 1H 2025 | Smart Analytics Global |
| Chinese vendor share of global shipments | >97% | 1H 2026 | Smart Analytics Global |
| China share of global demand | >85% | 1H 2026 | Smart Analytics Global |
| AgiBot global share | 44% | 1H 2026 | Smart Analytics Global |
| Unitree global share | 31% | 1H 2026 | Smart Analytics Global |
| Commercial/industrial share of procurement | 70% (from 50%) | 1H 2026 | Smart Analytics Global |
| Chinese-vendor units shipped | ~18,527 units | 1H 2026 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
| Net export wedge | ~2,292 units (12.4%) | 1H 2026 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
The net export wedge. Chinese vendors supplied 97% of world shipments while China absorbed 85% of world demand. Axis Intelligence Research computes the gap directly from those two figures: 19,100 × 0.97 = 18,527 units shipped by Chinese vendors; 19,100 × 0.85 = 16,235 units absorbed by Chinese buyers; the difference is 2,292 units, or 12.4% of Chinese-vendor output, sold abroad in the first half of 2026.
That small wedge is the piece the trade coverage keeps missing. China’s humanoid sector is not yet export-led — nine of every ten machines it builds stay home. Which is why the American action described below hurts less on today’s numbers than the headlines suggested, and more on the 2028 ones.
The Axis China Humanoid Absorption Ratio (CHAR)
CHAR — China Humanoid Absorption Ratio is an original Axis Intelligence Research metric measuring how much of China’s projected humanoid robot output has actually been absorbed by commercial and industrial buyers. It exists because the two most-quoted numbers in this sector — production capacity and shipment counts — are routinely used interchangeably, and they are not the same thing.
Formula, with inputs disclosed:
CHAR = (Global 1H shipments × Chinese-vendor share × commercial/industrial procurement share)
÷ (MIIT full-year output projection ÷ 2)
Baseline reading, August 21, 2026:
- Global 1H 2026 humanoid shipments: 19,100 units (Smart Analytics Global, August 10, 2026)
- Chinese-vendor share of global shipments: 0.97 (Smart Analytics Global)
- Commercial/industrial share of procurement: 0.70 (Smart Analytics Global)
- MIIT full-year 2026 output projection: 100,000 units (MIIT, July 7, 2026)
18,527 × 0.70 = 12,969 commercially/industrially absorbed units
100,000 ÷ 2 = 50,000 straight-line half-year output basis
CHAR = 12,969 ÷ 50,000 = 25.9%
This is the metric’s first computed reading and serves as its baseline; it carries no history and makes no claim relative to one.
How to read it. A CHAR near 100% would mean output and commercial absorption are moving together. At 25.9%, Chinese humanoid manufacturing capacity is running roughly four times ahead of demonstrated commercial and industrial placement. That is not automatically a failure — every hardware category builds capacity before it fills it, and Chinese manufacturers have a documented history of filling it faster than outsiders expect. It is, however, the specific quantity that separates the production story from the deployment story, and it belongs in every serious forecast of this sector.
What CHAR does not capture. Consumer and research-education units outside the commercial/industrial bucket; pre-orders and letters of intent that have not converted to delivery; and the seasonal skew of Chinese manufacturing, which typically loads output into the second half. A second-half reading will not be directly comparable to a straight-line half-year basis, and Axis Intelligence Research will restate the basis rather than the history when full-year figures land.
Which Chinese Humanoid Robot Companies Ship the Most?
Unitree Robotics
Unitree listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market on August 19, 2026 under code 688836, the first pure-play humanoid robotics company with a public, market-set price. Its prospectus disclosed 2025 revenue of RMB 1.699 billion, a 60.13% core-business gross margin, RMB 590 million in net profit excluding non-recurring items, and shipments of more than 5,500 humanoid robots — first globally by unit volume. Humanoids supplied 51.78% of 2025 revenue at RMB 868 million, against 1.88% in 2023.
The shares priced at RMB 150.80 and closed the first session at RMB 845. Axis Intelligence Research notes that some launch-day coverage reported a 487% first-day gain; the arithmetic does not support it. 845 ÷ 150.80 = 5.6035, a 460.3% gain, consistent with the close reported by SCMP, Reuters and NBC News. On 404.46 million post-offer shares, that close implies a market capitalisation of RMB 341.77 billion.
Valuation per unit shipped (VPU). Dividing that capitalisation by 2025 humanoid shipments gives RMB 62.14 million — approximately US$9.09 million — of market value for every humanoid robot Unitree shipped last year. Dividing disclosed humanoid revenue by the same shipment count gives an implied average selling price of RMB 157,818. The public market is currently paying roughly 394 times the implied sale price of the product, per unit shipped.
One methodological note, stated rather than buried: RMB 868M ÷ RMB 1.699bn returns 51.1%, not the 51.78% Unitree discloses. The difference is a revenue-base definition — the prospectus reports a main-business revenue line of RMB 1.708 billion in some versions of the filing. Axis Intelligence Research uses the company’s disclosed 51.78% and flags the discrepancy rather than silently reconciling it.
UBTech Robotics
UBTech (HKEX: 9880) reported 2025 revenue of RMB 2.001 billion, up 53.3%, with gross margin at 37.7% and net loss narrowed to RMB 789.8 million. Its industrial humanoid line drove the increase. Its consumer-facing U1 had taken 13,361 pre-orders as of end-June 2026, and its products have been integrated into Airbus operations — the company’s own framing as a first humanoid deployment in aviation manufacturing. UBTech’s board scheduled its 1H 2026 interim results for August 28, 2026.
AgiBot
AgiBot had cumulatively produced 15,000 robots off the assembly line as of end-June 2026, per TrendForce, and holds the largest global share of humanoid shipments at 44%.
Galaxy General
Galaxy General won an embodied-intelligence equipment procurement bid worth RMB 236 million in partnership with CATL — among the largest publicly disclosed humanoid-adjacent orders to date, and one of the few that names both a buyer and a value.
Chinese humanoid manufacturers: disclosed operating figures
| Company | Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unitree | Humanoid units shipped | 5,500+ | FY2025 | IPO prospectus (SSE) |
| Unitree | Revenue | RMB 1.699bn | FY2025 | IPO prospectus (SSE) |
| Unitree | Humanoid revenue | RMB 868m (51.78%) | FY2025 | IPO prospectus (SSE) |
| Unitree | Core gross margin | 60.13% | FY2025 | IPO prospectus (SSE) |
| Unitree | 1H revenue | RMB 1.15bn (+48.54%) | 1H 2026 | Company announcement (SSE) |
| Unitree | IPO price / first close | RMB 150.80 / RMB 845 | Aug 19, 2026 | SSE listing announcement |
| Unitree | Implied market cap at close | RMB 341.77bn | Aug 19, 2026 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
| Unitree | Valuation per unit shipped | RMB 62.14m (~US$9.09m) | Aug 19, 2026 | Axis Intelligence Research calculation |
| UBTech | Revenue | RMB 2.001bn (+53.3%) | FY2025 | Company results |
| UBTech | Gross margin | 37.7% | FY2025 | Company results |
| UBTech | U1 pre-orders | 13,361 | Jun 30, 2026 | TrendForce |
| AgiBot | Cumulative units produced | 15,000 | Jun 30, 2026 | TrendForce |
| Galaxy General | CATL procurement bid | RMB 236m | Aug 2026 | TrendForce |
Liam Michael: Demos scale on YouTube; deployments scale on factory floors. The single most useful column in that table is the one with a buyer’s name in it — CATL, Airbus, the 13,361 U1 pre-orders. Cumulative-units-off-the-line is a manufacturing statistic, not a demand statistic, and 15,000 built is compatible with almost any absorption story you care to tell. Show me repeat purchase orders from a customer who bought last year and I will move the number.
Is China’s Humanoid Robot Market Actually Deploying?
The most useful sceptic on this question is not a short-seller — it is the International Federation of Robotics. In its May 2026 assessment of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, the IFR observed that despite the televised half-marathons and Lunar New Year performances, real-world humanoid capability remains confined to demonstrators and pilot projects, and that the plan itself situates humanoid commercialisation toward the end of the 2026–2030 period.
That timeline is the tell. Beijing’s own primary framework document does not expect this to be a mature commercial category before roughly 2030. The 100,000-unit output projection and the end-of-plan commercialisation horizon are not contradictory — they are sequential. Capacity first, customers later.
The market is moving in the right direction on composition. Commercial and industrial procurement rose from 50% to 70% of humanoid purchases year on year in the first half of 2026, per Smart Analytics Global. The 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing held a dedicated Procurement Day for the first time. TrendForce estimates China’s humanoid robot output value at RMB 15 billion in 2026, with at least 60% growth in 2027 taking it past RMB 24 billion — and cautions that projects currently span formal procurement, pre-orders, letters of intent and scenario testing, with a real gap before standardised, repeat procurement.
Unitree’s own filings carry the warning most clearly. First-half 2026 revenue grew 48.54% year on year while recurring net profit is guided to decline 6% to 22%, with Q1 2026 profit already down 52.55%. Revenue up, profit down, average selling prices falling: that is a volume-over-price strategy in a category where nobody has yet proven the volumes.
How Does the US Import Ban Affect China’s Humanoid Robot Industry?
On July 28, 2026, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices — humanoids and quadrupeds — and foreign-produced power inverters to the Covered List maintained under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. The practical effect is that new models generally cannot obtain the FCC equipment authorisation required to be imported, marketed or sold in the United States. Existing authorised models are not clawed back, and a conditional-approval path exists through the Department of War and DHS. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr framed the action as securing critical supply chains; Beijing called it protectionism.
Run it against the wedge. Chinese vendors exported roughly 2,292 humanoid units net in the first half of 2026 — 12.4% of their output, spread across all export markets, not just the United States. On 2026 volumes, the ban removes access to a market that was never the volume story. On 2030 volumes, with Smart Analytics Global projecting 500,000 units of annual output, a permanently closed American channel changes the addressable market materially. Unitree’s own prospectus lists exactly this as a risk factor: further restrictions on procurement cooperation or technology exports could end the growth of its overseas sales.
Methodology
Collection. Every figure in this article was retrieved from a source document opened during production between August 20 and August 21, 2026, and every figure appears as a row in the accompanying CSV with its source organisation, source document, URL and retrieval date. Where a figure originates with a research firm rather than a filing or a statistical agency, the CSV marks is_primary = no and the prose names the firm.
Source hierarchy. Government statistical output (National Bureau of Statistics), ministry statements (MIIT), exchange filings and exchange-hosted disclosures (Shanghai Stock Exchange, HKEX), and industry-body statistics (IFR) rank above research-firm estimates (Smart Analytics Global, TrendForce), which are labelled as estimates throughout.
Axis calculations. Four figures in this article are computed by Axis Intelligence Research and carry axis_calculated = yes in the CSV with the formula in method_note: Chinese-vendor 1H 2026 shipments, the net export wedge, the China Humanoid Absorption Ratio, and Unitree’s valuation per unit shipped. All were computed twice independently. Where our arithmetic contradicts published reporting — as with the 487% first-day gain figure — the article states the contradiction and shows the working.
Currency. Figures are stated in renminbi as reported. The single US-dollar conversion in this article uses the rate implied by NBC News’ reported RMB 845 = US$125.40 close (6.738 CNY/USD, August 19, 2026), disclosed here rather than applied silently.
Scope. Humanoid shipment and market-share figures for 1H 2026 are research-firm estimates, not audited counts; no audited global humanoid shipment series exists yet. MIIT’s 100,000-unit figure is a projection stated by a ministry official at a press conference, not a published statistical release. Company cumulative-production figures are self-reported. CHAR uses a straight-line half-year basis and will be restated when full-year output is published.
About This Dataset
china-humanoid-robot-statistics-2026.csv contains every quantitative claim in this article as a tidy long-format table: one row per observation, with metric, value, unit, as_of_date, entity, geography, source_org, source_document, source_url, retrieved_date, is_primary, axis_calculated, method_note and license. Temporal coverage: 2023–2027 (projections included and flagged). Spatial coverage: China, with global comparators.
License: CC BY 4.0. Free to use, redistribute and build on with attribution.
Citation
APA — Axis Intelligence Research. (2026). China humanoid robot statistics 2026: Output, shipments, market share and the absorption gap. https://axis-intelligence.com/china-humanoid-robot-statistics/
MLA — Axis Intelligence Research. “China Humanoid Robot Statistics 2026: Output, Shipments, Market Share and the Absorption Gap.” Axis Intelligence, 21 Aug. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/china-humanoid-robot-statistics/.
Chicago — Axis Intelligence Research. “China Humanoid Robot Statistics 2026: Output, Shipments, Market Share and the Absorption Gap.” Axis Intelligence, August 21, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/china-humanoid-robot-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the China Humanoid Absorption Ratio and why does it matter?
CHAR is an Axis Intelligence Research metric dividing commercially and industrially absorbed Chinese-vendor humanoid shipments by the straight-line half-year share of MIIT’s full-year output projection. Its baseline reading is 25.9% as of August 21, 2026. It matters because production capacity and commercial placement are routinely quoted as if they were the same figure, and in this sector they differ by roughly a factor of four.
Why do MIIT’s 100,000-unit projection and the 19,100-unit global shipment count differ so much?
They measure different things over different periods. MIIT’s figure is projected full-year Chinese output — units built. The 19,100 figure is global deliveries in the first six months, an estimate from Smart Analytics Global. Output includes units built for inventory, for research-and-education channels, and for consumer pre-orders that industry production statistics may not capture as shipments.
Which Chinese company ships the most humanoid robots?
By 2025 unit volume, Unitree, at more than 5,500 humanoids per its IPO prospectus. By first-half 2026 global share, AgiBot leads at 44% against Unitree’s 31%, per Smart Analytics Global. The two figures are not in conflict — they cover different periods.
What are humanoid robots actually being used for in Chinese factories?
Disclosed deployments cluster in material handling, sorting, quality inspection and logistics, with named integrations in automotive, 3C electronics, aviation manufacturing and energy. The IFR’s assessment is that these remain demonstrators and pilots rather than production-critical cells, and that industrial arms will stay the backbone of high-speed, millimetre-precision work.
How much of China’s humanoid output is exported?
Roughly 12.4% in the first half of 2026, per an Axis Intelligence Research calculation from Smart Analytics Global’s shipment-share and demand-share estimates — approximately 2,292 units net. China’s humanoid sector is domestically absorbed first and export-oriented second.
Does the US import ban stop Chinese humanoid robots entirely?
No. The FCC action bars new foreign-produced humanoid and quadruped models from obtaining the equipment authorisation needed for US import and sale. Models already authorised may continue to be sold, and a conditional-approval route exists via the Department of War and DHS. Devices already in US hands are unaffected.
Is China’s humanoid robot industry profitable?
Unevenly. Unitree reported RMB 590 million in net profit excluding non-recurring items for 2025 but guides first-half 2026 recurring net profit down 6% to 22% year on year. UBTech remains loss-making, with a 2025 net loss of RMB 789.8 million against 53.3% revenue growth. Rising volume is currently arriving alongside falling per-unit economics.
When does China itself expect humanoid robots to be commercially mature?
The IFR’s reading of the 15th Five-Year Plan places humanoid commercialisation toward the end of the 2026–2030 plan period, with wide adoption of AI in traditional industrial robotics expected across the next five to ten years.
How many industrial robots does China install compared with humanoids?
China installed 295,000 industrial robots in 2024 — 54% of global deployments — against an operational stock of 2,027,000 units, per IFR’s World Robotics 2025. Its 2025 humanoid output of approximately 20,000 units equals 2.6% of its 773,074 industrial robots produced that year.