Recently, the renowned overseas investment bank Morgan Stanley released its latest research report on the humanoid robot industry, maintaining a bullish outlook on the development of China's humanoid robot industry chain. The institution identified 100 core enterprises in the global humanoid robot industry, with multiple Shenzhen enterprises successfully securing positions on this industry chain top 100 list.

Since the beginning of this year, Shenzhen humanoid robot enterprises have demonstrated formidable strength in both "brain" and "cerebellum" core technology R&D and application—from Honor Robotics' record-breaking marathon victory to Zhiyuan Robotics' autonomous decision-making and scene generalization capabilities. Relying on a complete industrial chain, a superior collaborative innovation environment, and active venture capital support, a growing number of Shenzhen enterprises are "linking" with the global market through "Shenzhen" momentum, accelerating technology commercialization and opening new avenues for industrial growth.

Complete Industrial Chain Fortifies Industrial Competitiveness

"Over the next 5 to 10 years, the robotics industry will become China's next key driver of exports, similar to the electric vehicle industry a decade ago," Morgan Stanley stated in an optimistic assessment within its research report.

The institution's top 100 list categorizes the humanoid robot industry chain into three core segments: Brain, Body, and Integration. Multiple Shenzhen enterprises including BYD, Tencent, UBTECH, RoboSense (Suteng Juchuang), Leadshine, Zhaowei Machinery, and Luxshare Precision have secured spots on the list. Seizing the opportunity of the humanoid robot industry's explosive growth, Shenzhen has constructed a comprehensive industry chain system covering everything from complete systems to perception, control, and drive component supply.

"Approximately 70% of our component needs can be sourced from local suppliers in Shenzhen, with efficient supply-demand matching and close collaboration between upstream and downstream enterprises," stated the head of Public Relations and Government Affairs at Digital Huaxia, a humanoid robot complete-machine enterprise. Robust local industrial chain support is the core confidence that enables Shenzhen humanoid robot enterprises to seize competitive advantages in the market.

Currently, Shenzhen's robotics industry is advancing into a "high-order development stage" characterized by "parallel growth in scale and quality." In 2025, the number of Shenzhen enterprises holding robotics patents increased to 4,676, representing a year-on-year growth of 19.44%—a significant leap from the 6.04% growth rate in 2024, reflecting a substantial increase in both technical density and innovation vitality among new market entrants.

Collaborative Innovation Ecosystem Accelerates Technology Implementation and Validation

The ability of Shenzhen robotics enterprises to emerge on the global stage and secure key positions owes much to their systematic collaborative innovation capabilities.

In 2025, UBTECH, known as the "first stock of humanoid robots," achieved total annual revenue of 2.001 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 53.3%, ranking first globally among humanoid robot enterprises in revenue scale. The company continues to increase R&D investment, with annual R&D expenditure exceeding 500 million RMB, accounting for 25.6% of revenue. Leveraging deep technical accumulation, UBTECH has achieved full coverage across five major application scenarios: aviation manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, 3C electronics manufacturing, smart logistics, and semiconductor manufacturing.

Shenzhen places enterprises at the core of innovation while leveraging abundant new-type R&D institutions to accelerate the implementation of humanoid robot technology. Focusing on the power industry, the Robotics Center of the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, in collaboration with Guangdong Power Grid and the Guangdong Embodied Intelligent Robot Innovation Center, established China's first standardized embodied behavior modular database and heterogeneous robot scheduling system for the power industry, developing the industry's first humanoid robot "Zhixingzhe No. 1" (Pathfinder No. 1), which has since been deployed in demonstration applications across multiple locations nationwide.

To overcome key core technologies in humanoid robots, Shenzhen has constructed a "basic research + application translation" dual-drive innovation support system. Data shows that among the top 10 entities for robotics patent applications in Shenzhen in 2025, enterprises accounted for 6 seats and research institutes for 4; among the top 10 for patent grants, enterprises accounted for 8 seats and research institutes for 2, demonstrating an increasingly robust industry-academia-research collaborative innovation structure.

Capital Precisely Empowers, Accelerating Commercialization

According to Morgan Stanley research data, China's humanoid robot sector captured 46% of global venture capital funding in the first half of 2026. Confident in the broad prospects of commercial application, venture capital is accelerating its inflow, and Shenzhen has nurtured multiple star unicorn enterprises in the humanoid robot domain.

In February 2026, ZhiPingFang (Zhipu Intelligent), a Shenzhen enterprise specializing in embodied intelligence large model R&D, completed a Series B funding round exceeding 1 billion RMB, with a valuation surpassing 10 billion RMB—all within just three years of its founding. Similarly favored by capital is tactile sensor enterprise Paxini, which also surpassed a 10-billion-RMB valuation after completing its Series B round, becoming the highest-valued benchmark enterprise in the global embodied perception.

Driven by the capital boom, Shenzhen humanoid robots are accelerating their commercialization pace. During the 2026 "May Day" holiday, robots from Shenzhen enterprise CrossDimensional Intelligence deployed commercial service stations in multiple locations including Xuzhou Fantawild Park, Shenzhen K11 Shopping Art Center, and Yangshuo West Street, achieving synchronized openings across more than ten stores. Focusing on commercial retail and cultural tourism scenarios, Shenzhen humanoid robot enterprises are validating technical usability and reliability through real market orders and large-scale deployment, charting a development path where algorithmic iteration and commercial value realization advance in tandem.

In the industrial manufacturing sector, Shenzhen enterprises with substantial order backlogs are driving standardized mass production. In April 2026, the Shenzhen pilot production line invested by Leju Robotics was officially commissioned, conducting pre-mass-production trials and validation focused on "flexibilization," "standardization," and "intelligence" to unblock key bottlenecks in the transition from R&D to mass production.

Today, Shenzhen's humanoid robot industry has achieved deep integration of industry chains and innovation chains, with venture capital providing sustained support. A growing number of local enterprises are demonstrating leading competitive strength in the global market, becoming the core force driving industrial development.

Source: Shenzhen Special Zone Daily (ID: shenzhentequbao); Author: Shenzhen Special Zone Daily & Dute Reporter Xiong Ziheng