China Sees Most Investments in Humanoid Robots

The sector of humanoid robotics has been growing significantly recently. In 2025, more than $3 billion was invested in humanoid robot startups, more than in the years 2017 to 2024 combined, according to data published by the market research platform Tracxn. This development indicates that investors now view humanoid robotics as a more mature and commercially attractive technology.

China currently leads the field with $4.4 billion invested in humanoid robotics between 2017 and the first half of 2026, just ahead of the U.S. with around $3 billion invested in this time period. China and the United States are the clear epicenters for humanoid-robotics entrepreneurship. A second tier is led by Canada, followed by Japan, Israel and the United Kingdom, suggesting that while interest is global, the startup ecosystem remains concentrated in a handful of markets.

A recent article in the scientific magazine Nature described humanoid robots as on the brink of being commercially useful, as mass production is expected and the machines so far can already perform repetitive manual tasks, like lifting heavy items to assist production processes or sorting packages. In the context of private homes, they have learned to do standard tasks like opening doors, fetching things and turning light switches on and off.

The Chinese and American startup ecosystems are particularly notable in the field. Chinese companies such as Unitree Robotics and Agibot are currently producing more humanoid robot models than any other country in the world (more than 5,000 each in 2025), while some of the best-known U.S. names, like Boston Dynamics and Tesla, are aiming to ramp up their production of robots for industrial and consumer applications in 2026 (with their models Atlas and Optimus, respectively). In Europe, key players include Engineered Arts (United Kingdom) and Neura Robotics (Germany).