China can build humanoids at scale. The hard part is finding enough buyers

In May 2026, workers at the LY iTech Beijing Super Factory assemble components for humanoid robots for Embodied Artificial Intelligence during a media tour in Beijing’s E-Town.
Chinese-made humanoid robots are gaining attention for their capabilities, including performing backflips, directing traffic, and making coffee to address aging population and rising labor costs.
Research and development for humanoid robots is heavily concentrated in China and the United States, which dominate the estimated $5 trillion humanoid robots market.
Despite thousands of orders for humanoid robots from both governmental and private entities, experts argue that demand does not match the current production capacity.
China leads the global humanoid robot market with significant state support, targeting advanced technology, including humanoid robots in their 2026-2030 five-year plan.
Companies like Matrix Robotics and EngineAI have received hundreds of orders for their humanoid robots, which find initial applications in industries like logistics, hospitality, and entertainment.
Despite the high initial costs and complexities in making humanoid robots functional in real-life, scenarios, production costs are expected to decrease as manufacturing and data accumulation improve.
The development of humanoid robots in China faces challenges like accumulating sufficient data for training robots to perform complex tasks reliably.

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