China Expects 100,000 Humanoid Robots This Year

China expects to make more than 100,000 humanoid robots this year, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Wei Wei, director general of the ministry’s Department of Science and Technology, said at a press conference in Beijing on 19 October that production is expected “to surpass 100,000 units this year”, the State Council Information Office (SCIO) reported on 20 October.

This is a government projection, not a count of robots delivered. It came with an interim figure: by the end of June, Wei said, China had developed more than 400 humanoid robot models and production had passed 40,000 units. If the forecast holds, output in the second half would be at least one and a half times that of the first.

In brief

An MIIT official says China’s humanoid robot production is expected to surpass 100,000 units in 2026; this is a projection.
By the end of June, China had developed more than 400 humanoid robot models, with production exceeding 40,000 units, the official said.
MIIT plans to release a 2026 edition of national guidelines for a humanoid robot industry standards system.

The figures behind the forecast

Wei was speaking at a briefing on newly released guidelines for boosting technology-driven commerce. “By the end of June, China had developed more than 400 humanoid robot models, with production exceeding 40,000 units,” SCIO reported him as saying.

Wei described embodied AI, represented by humanoid robots, as a key vehicle for bridging digital AI and the physical world. China has stepped up work on core technologies including motion control, simulation and tactile sensing, according to SCIO, while accelerating commercial deployment.

Under a government initiative focused on real-world training and testing, embodied AI products are being tested and deployed across “more than 300 priority scenarios”, including warehousing, logistics, catering, retail and household services.

The ministry gave no breakdown by manufacturer, robot type or customer, and did not say how it counts production or what share of the units have been sold or deployed.

What MIIT plans next

According to SCIO, the ministry will encourage retailers and other businesses to open their facilities for robot testing and real-world use. It will also back targeted research into key technologies and promote benchmark applications across industrial, specialised and consumer-facing sectors.

On standards, the ministry plans to release “the 2026 edition of the national guidelines for building a humanoid robot industry standards system”, accelerate application-specific standards and set up a high-level open-source community. Wei added that MIIT will strengthen industry monitoring and testing on product quality, cybersecurity and data security, while advancing ethical governance.

The broader aim, Wei said, is to use humanoid robots as an entry point to develop the wider embodied AI industry and give fresh momentum to technology-driven commercial growth.

Context

The forecast lands as foreign and domestic manufacturers are building humanoid capacity in China and the US. Schaeffler opened a factory in Taicang this month that it describes as “humanoids making humanoids”, and in the US, AGCO has agreed to pilot Agility Robotics’ Digit from 2027. Chinese firms such as Unitree are also releasing software to coordinate fleets of their robots.

Against that backdrop, 100,000 units in a year would be a large number for an industry that until recently was measured in prototypes. It would also put China well ahead in volume, if not necessarily in capability.

Our read

The headline number is an official expectation, and the 40,000 first-half figure gives it some grounding. But “production” covers a wide range of machines, from research platforms to entertainment robots, and Beijing has given no detail on what is being counted or where the robots end up. The standards guidelines and testing scenarios may tell more about how serious deployment is than the volume target itself.