The race to develop the world's first commercially viable humanoid robots is heating up. Although we've had Elon Musk's Tesla planting its stake in the ground that its Optimus robot would be at the very heart of its future, China's robotics scene is progressing, and there are plans for earlier production and more widespread adoption.
As Beijing places a lot of emphasis on humanoid robotics as part of its national strategy, Chinese robotics companies could well come to the fore in the race Tesla is waging to bring robots from lab demonstrations to applications.
Musk's Vision and the Optimus Ambition
Elon Musk has propagated the vision of humanoid robots eventually becoming ubiquitous in factories, homes and other workplaces, suggesting they could become a key component of Tesla's valuation and business strategy. On social media and during interviews, Musk has made humanoid robots a force that the company is very much at the forefront of.
Tesla's Optimus project is a quest to build AI-powered self-driving robots capable of performing tasks previously performed by humans. The company has been going into overdrive in recent months, with signals from hires indicating a shift from prototype development to preparation for wider production.
Yet despite great expectations and high rhetoric, Tesla has not been without problems. Production targets for Optimus have disappeared in the past, and the robot has yet to sell in considerable numbers.
China's Strategic Push into Humanoid Robotics
While Tesla attempts to perfect and produce Optimus, China is the one pushing the robotics ecosystem closer to commercialisation.
According to Andreas Brauchle, partner at consultancy Horváth, cited by CNBC, 'China currently leads the United States in the early commercialisation of humanoid robots', an indication that Chinese companies are already scaling their pilot programmes ahead of their US equivalents.
China has incorporated humanoid robotics into strategic policy planning, with government initiatives and funding to encourage domestic innovation, supply chain development, and the mass production of robots. Domestic companies like Agibot, UBtech Robotics and Unitree Robotics are already releasing models and ramping up for major deployments of robots in industrial and service industries.
For example, Agibot — a Shanghai-based firm — has begun mass production of humanoid units and has seen advances in building robotic factories, with over 1,000 units built and plans to build more.
Production and Market Momentum
China's manufacturing ecosystem provides it with a marked advantage. Firms with production lines in place and extended supply chains are quickly turning investment into actual product output. Some Chinese EV makers, such as XPeng, are integrating humanoid robotics into their manufacturing and assembly processes, strengthening the technological synergy between robotics and other high-growth sectors.
Chinese robots also enjoy the advantage of being cheaper than their Western counterparts. Models entering industrial use have significantly lower prices than early production models of the Optimus line, which opens adoption by factories and commercial operators in the near term.
At the same time, China's hosting of events like the World Humanoid Robot Games reflects that the push to present and benchmark robotic progress is most substantial within the country. The 2025 version had hundreds of robots performing various challenges, indicative of both the scope of experimentation and the country's growing footprint in humanoid robotics.
Challenges and the Way Forward
Despite the momentum, neither China nor Tesla has completely figured out the fundamental technology and practical challenges of humanoid robotics. Machines that can reliably operate in unpredictable human environments, perform nuanced work, and operate affordably at scale are still a work in progress. The industry is still working through some of the problems, such as battery life, advanced AI perception, dexterity, and safety in human-robot interaction.
For Tesla, delays and technical complexity have cooled some of the initial enthusiasm. While the company plans to start producing Optimus on a wider scale in 2026, the robot has yet to move beyond pilot stages and private demos.
China's edge at this point isn't so much about a finished product as it is about scale and preparedness for real-world use. With several companies developing humanoid robots and an accommodating industrial policy framework, the country seems well-positioned to capitalise on early commercial opportunities.
What This Means for the Global Race
The humanoid robotics sector is not only a technological achievement but also a site of economic and geopolitical competition. Success in this field could influence future automation, labour markets, manufacturing capabilities, and national strategic posture in technology leadership.
For Musk and Tesla, Optimus is a daring gambit—one that could reshape the company's footprint if it gains widespread use. However, China's current trajectory suggests it will be less of a straightforward sprint in the next few years, more of a complex multi-front competition among multiple companies, policy regimes and industrial systems in play.
Whether or not Tesla can regain some momentum or China's ecosystem can cement an early lead remains to be seen. What is clear, though, is that the race to a futurescape in which humanoid machines run rampant is well underway. The future has far-reaching implications for technology, labour and global influence.
