Why have Chinese robots gained massive popularity overseas first?

In a warehouse in California, around 30 wooden crates are stacked together, each measuring roughly 1.5 meters in length and 60 centimeters in height. Inside the crates are humanoid robots from Unitree Robotics, a Chinese robotics company.

In a few hours, they will be shipped to universities, research institutions, and AI startups across the United States.

This is the logistics center of ToverlifeAI, the official U.S. partner of Unitree. According to its CEO David Schulhof, approximately 100 Chinese-made humanoid robots pass through this facility each month and are distributed across the United States. The number of customers has already reached nearly 1,000, with demand far outstripping supply, ensuring order stability for years to come.

A scene like this would have been unimaginable just a year ago.

Over the past few years, the global humanoid robotics industry has been dominated by the United States. From Figure AI to Tesla Optimus and Boston Dynamics, the global conversation centered on who would be the first to deliver a truly usable humanoid robot. But a shift this year is that Chinese companies have become the first to achieve large-scale entry into overseas markets.

At Tokyo's Haneda Airport in Japan, Unitree robots have begun participating in ground handling operation tests; in Malaysia, Agibots has opened its first overseas experience center; across Europe and the Middle East, an increasing number of Chinese robots are entering universities, research institutions, developer communities, and industrial application scenarios. At the same time, from CES to MWC, Chinese robotics companies have made frequent appearances at international tech exhibitions.

For Chinese robotics enterprises, overseas markets represent not only a larger customer base but also a testing ground for business models. From scientific research and education to industrial manufacturing, from product exports to localized operations, a competition centered on the global market has already begun.

1. Who Is Buying Chinese Humanoid Robots?

A key reason why Chinese robots have rapidly expanded into overseas markets is that they are becoming the most accessible humanoid robots for global developers to acquire.

The ToverlifeAI warehouse is just a microcosm of this trend.

According to a company representative: "There is huge demand for these robots from universities, research institutions, and startups for research purposes." Compared to U.S.-based humanoid robots that are still in the R&D and small-scale pilot phase, Chinese products are not only more affordable but also easier to obtain.

Currently, most humanoid robots in the United States remain in the research and development stage. Figure AI has only deployed its humanoid robot Figure 02 for pilot operations at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina; Tesla's Optimus is still under development; only Boston Dynamics, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, has begun mass production of its Atlas robot.

However, these U.S.-made robots come with a high price tag. Reports indicate their unit prices range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In contrast, the retail price of Unitree Robotics' flagship G1 robot in the U.S. is approximately $16,000.

This price advantage is rapidly translating into market share.

Data from market research firm Omdia shows that global humanoid robot shipments reached approximately 13,000 units last year. Chinese companies occupy most of the top five positions in shipment volume, with U.S. competitor Figure AI ranking seventh and Tesla ninth.

Meanwhile, China's robot exports have started growing rapidly. The latest customs data shows that in the first quarter of 2026, China's humanoid robot exports increased by 210% year-on-year. Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East have become core strongholds for Chinese embodied intelligence products going global.

Beyond the European and American scientific research markets, Chinese manufacturers are expanding across multiple segments.

In January this year, AgiBot opened its first overseas robot experience center "i-City AI World" in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. Its Expedition A2 embodied intelligent robot served as a "service officer," greeting visitors and providing guided tours in fluent English and Malay, while launching a "Rental Alliance" covering 10 Asia-Pacific markets.

In June the same year, Fourier Intelligence's general-purpose humanoid robot secured a multi-million-dollar order to be deployed at Malaysia's national PERKESO rehabilitation center, achieving a commercial closed loop in clinical rehabilitation and medical research scenarios.

In the Japanese market, GMO AIR, a subsidiary of GMO Internet Group, also signed an agency agreement with Unitree in June 2026, offering direct sales and rental services for the G1 and H1 humanoid robots to local Japanese enterprises, with daily rental rates starting at 100,000 yen.

Since the beginning of this year, Morgan Stanley has raised its shipment forecast for Chinese humanoid robots for the second consecutive time, from 14,000 units at the start of the year and 28,000 units in April, to the current 50,000 units.

Morgan Stanley believes that China's humanoid robotics industry is transitioning from the demonstration phase to commercial deployment faster than expected, estimating that China's humanoid robot market will reach $20 billion this year and grow to $150 billion by 2030, with annual shipments projected to hit 446,000 units by then.

2. How Do Robots Achieve Profitability When Going Global?

Overseas markets are opening up, but for the humanoid robotics industry still in its early stages, making sales is only the first step.

Compared to mature industries such as new energy vehicles and consumer electronics, the real challenge for humanoid robots is not securing orders, but how to convert overseas demand into a sustainable business model. At present, pricing, scenarios, and services remain the three key hurdles facing Chinese robotics companies.

First, humanoid robot prices are decreasing, and profit margins are being compressed.

Over the past one to two years, the humanoid robotics industry has undergone rapid price reductions.

As the supply chain matures, core component costs decline, and more players enter the market, domestic humanoid robot prices have dropped rapidly. In early March this year, Ubtech announced a price cut for its industrial humanoid robot to 128,000 yuan, followed by Fourier Intelligence launching the GR-3 model at 115,000 yuan, while Unitree Robotics priced its G1 series at 99,000 yuan, breaking the 100,000-yuan threshold.

This price competition has also extended to overseas markets.

Taking Unitree as an example, the current official overseas price of its G1 humanoid robot ranges from approximately $16,000 to $21,500, only 1/10 to 1/3 the price of similar R&D platforms in Europe and the United States. Lower prices have helped Chinese companies quickly capture overseas markets among universities, research institutions, and developers, but they also mean continuously shrinking profit margins.

More importantly, most current overseas orders are still concentrated in the scientific research and education sector.

Unitree's prospectus shows that in 2025, approximately 73.6% of its humanoid robot business revenue still came from scientific research and education customers. While these customers help quickly build a developer ecosystem, they cannot support the industry in achieving true large-scale profitability. For Chinese robotics companies, transitioning from research orders to industrial orders, and from one-time sales to recurring service revenue, remains a critical challenge for commercialization.

Second, while robot prices have decreased, deployment costs remain very high.

Cheaper robots do not mean that the cost for customers to use them has decreased proportionally.

For enterprise customers, purchasing the robot is only part of the total project investment. The truly expensive components are subsequent software development, system integration, end effector customization, on-site debugging, and long-term operation and maintenance.

The GGII (Gaogong Robotics Industry Research Institute) points out that although the hardware procurement price for a basic humanoid robot dropped to 100,000 yuan per unit in the first quarter of 2026, due to the need for in-depth secondary development, end effector customization, and long-term localized maintenance services in real application scenarios, the actual total cost of ownership (TCO) for system integration often approaches 500,000 to 600,000 yuan.

For large enterprises in sectors such as automotive manufacturing and logistics warehousing, this level of investment remains economically viable; but for a broader range of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, the return on investment cycle is still too long, and large-scale replication is not yet within reach.

Finally, global competition involves far more than just the product itself.

Compared to consumer electronics products, humanoid robots function more like long-running intelligent systems. Once robots enter overseas markets, customers focus not only on product performance but also on after-sales response speed, continuous software upgrade capabilities, local maintenance networks, and data security and compliance capabilities.

Especially in European and American markets, as robots gradually enter factories, shopping malls, and even public service scenarios, products must also meet stricter regulatory requirements for safety certification, privacy protection, and cross-border data flow. Localized delivery and service capabilities are becoming critical factors determining whether enterprises can sustainably secure orders.

This is why an increasing number of Chinese robotics companies are beginning to establish overseas agency systems, experience centers, and local partners, aiming to move sales, training, maintenance, and development support closer to end users and enhance their global operational capabilities.

3. Conclusion

From new energy vehicles to drones, the globalization path of Chinese manufacturing has followed the same process: first opening up markets through products and pricing, then building long-term competitiveness through brands, services, and ecosystems.

Humanoid robots may be following the same path.

Today, Chinese companies have taken the lead in selling robots overseas; but what will truly determine the industry landscape in the future is who can be the first to build a global system covering products, services, and ecosystems, enabling robots to truly integrate into overseas factories, logistics centers, and commercial scenarios, achieving the leap from "going global" to "taking root locally."

This article is from the WeChat public account "Growth Works", written by Xiang Qing, and published with authorization from 36Kr.