On March 18, during the GTC of Nvidia, the conference that presents itself as the superbowl of artificial intelligence, the CEO Jensen Huang said: “Let’s talk about robots!”. His statement was accepted between applause and approval choirs. The leading artificial intelligence company has thus illustrated numerous projects on robotics, from the tools to increase data on the synthetic movement to new products in collaboration with Google Deepmind and Disney Research. According to Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s attention on robotics will help to face a global labor deficiency, especially in the manufacture, and to accelerate a pervasive use of humanoid robots, foreseen by the end of this decade.
Humanid robotics have now become a leading theme of the competition between the United States and China. Elon Musk for some time on the Optimus robot to redefine the company’s trajectory beyond electric vehicles. Musk has made bombastic predictions, as often happens to him. During a conference call in January 2025, he said that Optimus could push Tesla’s capitalization of up to $ 25,000 billion. According to Musk, in 2040 the humanoids could be over 10 billion in the world, and thus overcome human beings. Tesla wants to integrate its artificial intelligence, perfected through autonomous driving technology, in Optimus, and sell the product to a large public. The most important advertising operation that Musk has in mind involves his fundamental goal: Mars. To go first to Mars, even according to him, it will not be human beings. Instead, the Made in Tesla humanoids will plant the United States flag on the red planet.
A 2024 Goldman Sachs report has provided that the humanoid robotics market could reach 38 billion dollars by 2035. In addition to Tesla, many other actors are moving in this area in the United States and beyond. Among other things, the influx of investments of venture capital testifies. In 2024, the funds invested 6.1 billion dollars in robotics, marking an increase of 19% compared to 2023 and a growth of over 144% from 2019. In particular, start -ups as figures Ai have attracted great attention: there is discussion of its potential evaluation for almost 40 billion dollars. The applications, in addition to industrial robots, concern the humanoids for logistics and for various methods of assistance. According to the main actors of the Venture Capital, from Marc Andreesen of A16Z to Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital, the development of more advanced artificial intelligence software is the discontinuity that leads to a real improvement in the abilities of robots, overcoming the limits of the past. The Start ups of robotics in the United States collaborate in an ever closer way with large technological companies, from the partnership of figures with Nvidia to the relations between Agility Robotics and Amazon. In this wave, we see the constant birth of new companies. For example, Generalist Ai, started from a Google Deepmind team and Openai.
In China, the research on robotics is fueled by constant attention by the government, already present in the Made in China 2025 plan and in the acquisitions of the ’10 years (think for example of the German Kuka by Midea). By 2027, China intends to deeply integrate humanoid robots into its economy, checking the supply chain. Chinese companies that focus on robotics have created a significant capitals collection in 2023 and 2024, destined to increase this year. Above all, the annual installations of Robot in China exceed those of the four main western competitors put together. This growth is fueled by the massive Chinese industrial sector, in particular in the automotive and electronic sectors.
In the midst of this wave of investments, the story of Unitree Robotics stands out. Founded in 2016 by Wang Xingxing, born in 1990, Unitree initially gained land with quadruped robots at affordable prices, before moving on to humanoids. Wang Xingxing said that the company’s secret lies in the low development costs, thanks to internal technological capacity, and in speed. “We are not only competing on technology, but also on accessibility,” said Nikkei Asia. “Humanoids should be in factories, houses and schools, not only in the workshops”. The viral demo of Unitree, capable of attracting the attention of millions of people such as those of US companies such as Boston Dynamics, have amplified its global profile. Wang Xingxing participated in the February meeting of Xi Jinping with technological entrepreneurs, including the leaders of Byd and Huawei: a further public and political consecration of his path. Wang, with studies at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University La Shanghai University, believes that humanoid robots will revolutionize every sector. He thinks that the real turning point will be an artificial intelligence model developed specifically for robotics, which knows how to integrate vision, tactile perception, decision -making processes and interaction systems. Unitree wants to ride this window of opportunities by launching new products every year, with the next generation of robots that will exceed current models in every aspect, aiming to carry out real industrial tasks in factories and logistics. The Chinese robotic panorama also includes other actors, such as Ubtech and Xiaomi, and others will be born and develop in the coming months. The public interest for Unithee is clearly creating a new Deepseek effect, in which young Chinese young people see Wang Xingxing as a model to imitate, just like the founder of Deepseek, Liang Wenfeng. Not surprisingly, the manager of the five -year plans of the Chinese Communist Party, with an unusual language for a bureaucrat of this type, said in a press conference that the advancements of robotic companies seem to make reality of the images of science fiction films.
As the Semianalysis technological consultancy company noted, China is demonstrating great ability to climb production and reduce costs in robotics, through strategies similar to those adopted successfully in the markets of drones and electric vehicles, where Shenzhen Dji and Byd companies are now recognized leaders.
Robotics, above all, reminds us that we still live in a material world, in which objects, raw materials, components decisively count. From the refining of materials, to spare parts for industrial robots, passing through permanent magnets, the global battle on robotics and humanoids will be played in all the knots of the supply chain.