Robots take over from Foxconn
Driving 30 kilometers west from Zhengzhou East Station, you'll reach the Yunzhi Science and Technology Park in Zhengzhou High - tech Zone. On this land adjacent to Zhengzhou University, a robot factory is about to go into production. The decoration of the production site is in its final stage, and workers are conducting equipment debugging and internal road leveling operations.
This production base, which is about to be put into use, is the global production, R & D, and manufacturing center of Zhongqing Robotics. According to Zhao Tongyang, the founder of Zhongqing Robotics, it is expected that the T800 humanoid robots will be mass - produced in the first half of 2026. In the next few years, tens of thousands of humanoid robots will be produced here.
This means that humanoid robots will have a "Made in Henan" label. In fact, in addition to Zhongqing Robotics, Zhengzhou is attracting a large number of humanoid robot companies.
Zhi Yuan plans to build a central embodied intelligence industrial base in Zhengzhou; Unitree also plans to establish an embodied intelligence innovation center in Henan; iFlytek has established a new company in Zhengzhou to expand its robot business; Ubtech took an earlier step and has already launched the "Robot Embedded Industrial Town" project in Zhengzhou.
For Zhengzhou, this may mean a development opportunity comparable to Foxconn's settlement back then. This city is expected to ride the wave of the humanoid robot industry.
In people's impression, the high - ground for humanoid robots always seems to be Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. So, what makes Zhengzhou attractive to a group of top - notch robot companies?
On the one hand, Henan has introduced a series of policies for support, providing guarantees for the implementation of the humanoid robot industry in terms of funds, land use, and application scenarios.
On the other hand, Henan has a profound manufacturing foundation and a mature industrial chain. Sixteen years ago, Foxconn settled in Zhengzhou, and later, BYD also built a factory in Zhengzhou, driving the overall rise of Henan's manufacturing industry. In 2025, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Zhengzhou increased by 9% year - on - year. Among them, the added value of the electronic information industry and the automobile manufacturing industry increased by 16.2% and 11.9% respectively year - on - year.
Meanwhile, manufacturers of precision components such as bearings, sensors, and vision systems have also grown, laying the foundation for the implementation of humanoid robots.
Now, leading humanoid robot companies have entered the critical stage of mass production and implementation. Zhengzhou is in the spotlight and has received unprecedented attention.
"Here, the manufacturing industry has a complete range of categories, with a huge market space and rich application scenarios, which will promote the agglomeration of upstream and downstream partners into a chain." Zhao Tongyang, the founder of Zhongqing Robotics, once explained the attractiveness of Henan in this way.
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According to "Zhengzhou High - tech Release", the total investment in Zhongqing Robotics' project in Zhengzhou is 4.5 billion yuan, and it is expected to be completed within 4 years. According to the plan, a super robot factory will be built here. After full completion, the annual output value is expected to exceed 1.7 billion yuan.
Zhongqing Robotics was established in Shenzhen in 2023 and has now completed its Series B financing, with a valuation of over 10 billion yuan. Why did a Shenzhen - based company choose to build a factory in Zhengzhou?
Perhaps it has something to do with the founder. Zhao Tongyang, the founder of Zhongqing Robotics, is from Nanyang, Henan.
In December 2025, Henan Zhongqing Robotics Co., Ltd. was established. In the same month, its production base was located in Zhengzhou High - tech Zone, covering an area of 200 mu, and the global manufacturing center for humanoid robots will be built in stages.
The first - phase base with an area of 8,000 square meters has an annual production plan of 5,000 units. Zhao Tongyang revealed that in the first half of 2026, the "Made in Henan" T800 humanoid robots will be mass - produced. The second phase will expand the production to 10,000 units per year, and finally, a global headquarters manufacturing base integrating R & D, production, testing, and sales will be built. Zhao Tongyang previously said that the mass - production target from 2027 to 2028 is between 30,000 and 50,000 units.
In April this year, Zhongqing Robotics also reached a cooperation with Zhongchuang Zhiling (Zhengzhou) Industrial Technology Group Co., Ltd., focusing on the supply of core components and the construction of embodied intelligence production lines.
Meanwhile, in Nanyang, Zhongqing Robotics is also building an embodied intelligence data collection center. The choice of Nanyang is not accidental. There are enterprises such as Wolong Explosion - proof and Zhongguangxue in the local area. Their motor, optoelectronic, and precision transmission technologies are highly compatible with the core components of humanoid robots.
Zhongqing is not an isolated case. Leading robot companies such as Unitree, Zhi Yuan, and Ubtech are also entering Zhengzhou.
As early as 2024, Ubtech settled in Zhengzhou. In April 2024, it reached a cooperation with the Zhongyuan District Government of Zhengzhou to build a multi - modal intelligent service robot industry demonstration base and create the country's first "Robot Embedded Industrial Town" project.
Subsequently, the embodied intelligence company Zhi Yuan Robotics set its sights on Zhengzhou. In December 2025, Zhengzhou signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Zhi Yuan to build a central embodied intelligence industrial base for Zhi Yuan.
In 2026, Unitree Technology also completed its "hand - in - hand" cooperation with Henan. In February this year, Henan Embodied Intelligence Industry Development Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Unitree Technology. The two sides will jointly build and operate an embodied intelligence innovation center, creating a comprehensive innovation base integrating product display, market promotion, education and training, and data ecosystem construction.
More and more embodied intelligence enterprises are turning their eyes to Henan, setting up production bases, branches, and co - building innovation centers in various forms in Henan.
This, of course, cannot be separated from policy support. In recent years, Henan has included the robot industry in the "7 + 28+N" key industrial chains and vigorously carried out the industrial chain action for robots and CNC machine tools.
Henan has also successively issued documents such as the "Action Plan for the Development of Embodied Intelligence Industry in Henan Province (2024 - 2027)" and the "Action Plan for Promoting 'Artificial Intelligence +' in Henan Province (2024 - 2026)", including humanoid robots in the key future industry matrix for development. The 2026 government work report clearly proposed to "promote the construction of projects such as the global production and manufacturing center of Zhongqing Robotics".
At the capital level, Henan has established an artificial intelligence industry fund with a total scale of 3 billion yuan to meet the financing needs. For example, in the Series A+ financing of Zhongqing Robotics in December 2025, Henan Huirong Fund appeared; four months later, Henan Huirong Fund led the Series B financing of Zhongqing Robotics with 200 million US dollars.
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Guo Taiming, the founder of Foxconn, once explained the reason for choosing Zhengzhou: "I chose to locate my industry in Zhengzhou because I took a fancy to its airport, population, and location."
In the past decade or so, the population of Zhengzhou has grown rapidly. In 2009, the population of Zhengzhou was 7.52 million, and by 2025, it was about 13.13 million. After Foxconn entered Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou's GDP developed rapidly. From 2010 to 2025, Zhengzhou's GDP increased from 400 billion yuan to 1.5 trillion yuan.
More importantly, Foxconn's settlement in Zhengzhou not only brought a large - scale production line and technical talents but also promoted the development of Henan's precision manufacturing industry. A group of component manufacturers have grown up, laying a solid foundation for the settlement of the humanoid robot industry in Henan.
Now, the reason why humanoid robot companies choose Henan is that they value the rich manufacturing foundation and mature industrial chain ecosystem here.
Zhao Tongyang said that Zhengzhou has a complete range of manufacturing industries, which will promote the agglomeration of upstream and downstream partners into a chain; Li Rui of Weiti Robotics said that Henan has a solid industrial foundation, especially in equipment manufacturing, electronic information, and automobile parts, which are the scenarios where embodied intelligence and robots are most likely to be implemented first.
Henan has gathered a number of key enterprises in the upstream, mid - stream, and downstream of the embodied intelligence industrial chain, covering various categories such as complete machine products, key components, special software, robot bodies, system integration, and applications. Among them, in the robot industry in Zhengzhou High - tech Zone alone, more than 400 upstream, downstream, and related enterprises have gathered.
A typical example is Luoyang Hongyuan Bearing, an upstream supplier of Foxconn. This enterprise focuses on industrial robot bearings and later entered the field of humanoid robot bearings. Now, in the field of bearings for key parts of humanoid robots, Luoyang Hongyuan Bearing has a domestic market share of over 90%.
This means that in almost all the humanoid robots you've heard of, the joints are equipped with products from this Luoyang enterprise.
The robots of Unitree Technology that performed "Wu BOT" on this year's Spring Festival Gala stage are equipped with Hongyuan's bearings in their joints. Every flexion and rotation of star robots such as Zhi Yuan, Zhongqing, and Ubtech rely on the support of Hongyuan Bearings.
Even the Glory robots that won the top six places in the humanoid robot half - marathon not long ago and broke the human half - marathon record used the HRAU series thin - walled cross - roller bearings provided by Hongyuan.
Image source: Hongyuan Bearing WeChat official account
If bearings support the "joints" of robots, then sensors are the "nerve endings" of robots. In the sensor field, Hanwei Technology, a well - known enterprise in Henan, has long been deploying in the field of robot perception, covering five major series of embodied intelligence sensor products, namely "olfaction - touch - balance - force control - vision", which can be applied to scenarios such as environmental gas detection, electronic skin pressure perception, and posture detection of humanoid robots.
Currently, Hanwei Technology's flexible sensors and six - dimensional force sensors have been applied to leading domestic robot manufacturers. Its 2025 annual report stated that related products such as electronic skin and tactile sensors have been sent for samples to many leading domestic humanoid robot enterprises and have received small - batch orders.
In November last year, the Xiaopeng robot that walked the catwalk became a hit. At that time, Hanwei Technology posted a video on its official WeChat account, using the scene of the Xiaopeng robot "tearing off its clothes to prove itself" to explain a core sensor IMU behind the catwalk and also introduced its own sensor technology.
Not long after, some investors asked Hanwei Technology on an investment platform whether it was the supplier of the flexible tactile sensor (electronic skin) for Xiaopeng robot's dexterous hand. At that time, Hanwei Technology did not give a direct response, only saying that it was in cooperation and communication with domestic and foreign customers, and everything was subject to the disclosed announcements.
Of course, Foxconn also provides implementation scenarios for humanoid robots. In February this year, at the new energy vehicle R & D center of Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory, Ubtech's Walker S2 humanoid robot has "started work" on the automobile assembly line, capable of autonomous recognition and decision - making based on on - site working conditions and transporting material boxes to the assembly station.
In addition, Tianqi Co., Ltd. has also cooperated with Foxconn New Energy Vehicle Industry Development (Henan) Co., Ltd. and plans to deploy no less than 2,000 embodied intelligence robots in Foxconn's automobile production and manufacturing system in the next 5 years.
From Foxconn more than a decade ago to the industrial chains such as bearings, sensors, and scenario implementation, Henan is squeezing into the map of the humanoid robot industry.
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In addition to the clustering of companies, many founders in the field of embodied intelligence also come from Henan. There's no need to say much about Zhao Tongyang of Zhongqing, who is from Nanyang, Henan.
Zhao Tongyang is a veteran in robot entrepreneurship. As early as 2019, he founded the quadruped robot company "Dogotix", which was later acquired by Xiaopeng Motors. A few years later, Zhao Tongyang left Xiaopeng and founded Zhongqing Robotics.
Li Rui, the founder of Weiti Robotics, and Lin Jie, the co - founder of Zhongyuan Dynamics, are also native Henan people.
As a serial entrepreneur, Li Rui started researching robots and computer vision twenty years ago and built his first robot in his life.
Later, Li Rui went to the United States and pursued a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his Ph.D., Li Rui and his tutor jointly developed the world's first robot visual - tactile sensor with ultra - high resolution: the GelSight fingertip sensor.
After graduating with a Ph.D., Li Rui founded the unmanned delivery company Robby Robotics, focusing on the research and development of autonomous driving technology. According to "Dahe Caifang", this unmanned delivery company once received investments from YC and a director of OpenAI.
In 2024, Li Rui chose to return to China for a second venture and established Weiti Robotics in Shanghai, mainly engaged in the R & D and manufacturing of robot bionic perception systems to create "skillful" human - like intelligent robots, which is a key step for robots to truly enter factories, families, and more complex real - world environments. In April 2025, Weiti Robotics completed nearly 100 million yuan in angel - round and angel + round financing in succession, with one round led by Xiaomi's strategic investment.
In April this year, Li Rui also expressed the direction of cooperation with Henan at a conference. For example, he hopes to cooperate with key enterprises in Henan around specific tasks such as precision assembly and flexible object manipulation; carry out data collection on local real production lines and workstations in Henan.
In addition to the Henan - born elites who are starting businesses outside, excellent talents have also emerged in the field of embodied intelligence in Henan. For example, in 2024, Zhou Chuangchuang, who obtained a Ph.D. in intelligent robotics from KU Leuven in Belgium, returned to Henan and joined the "Zhongyu Embodied Intelligence Laboratory" and currently serves as the deputy director of the laboratory. At the 2025 humanoid robot half - marathon, the "Xingzhe No. 2" independently developed by the laboratory won the third place.
But actually, the robot story in Henan is not only about humanoid robots. The local robot industry has been growing silently for many years. Linghang Robotics, established in 2015, focuses on manufacturing "dexterous hands" for industrial robots and is committed to the R & D of robot end - effectors; Zhongyuan Dynamics, established in 2019, also focuses on the R & D of intelligent robots; the frame - type lower - limb exoskeleton robot developed by Xiangyu Medical has also entered the prototype and pre - small - batch production stage.
The competition in the embodied intelligence industry is still in its early stage, and regions are competing to layout. Obviously, in this round of competition, Henan also wants to be at the table.
Reference materials:
"A New High - tech Manufacturing Base Rises on the Central Plains - Decoding the Industrial Synergy and Advancement Path of Foxconn and Henan" Henan Daily