97% of humanoid robots shipped in the first half of 2026 came from Chinese companies

Analyst firm Smart Analysis Global attributes 97% of the humanoid robots shipped worldwide in the first half of 2026 to Chinese companies. Xataka notes that the question is less about how intelligent the machines are than about the ability to build them in large series at low cost.

The lead extends to components. According to a McKinsey study cited by Bloomberg, China controls up to 90% of the permanent magnets in rotary actuators, about 40% of precision bearings, about 40% of sensors and about 30% of power electronics.

Production is speeding up. Agibot says its 15,000th robot came off the line in June.

China Daily cites a trial at tablet maker Longcheer: eight Agibot robots worked 24 hours a day for 6 days along a production line, loading, moving and sorting devices with one-millimetre precision.

These volumes need qualifying. Alex Zhou, founder of start-up LinkerBot, told Bloomberg that about 20,000 humanoids were installed worldwide last year, but that only a few thousand did real work. According to him, the rest were mainly used for entertainment.