China’s Humanoid Robot Boom: Are AI Employees Heading for a Bubble?
In late November 2025, China’s top economic planner, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), publicly warned that the country’s boom in humanoid robotics — the surge of “AI Employees” and “Voice AI Agents” embodied as walking machines — may be turning into a speculative bubble.
What triggered the warning
- According to NDRC spokesperson Li Chao, there are now over 150 companies in China building humanoid robots, many of them startups or firms newly entering robotics from unrelated industries.
- The concern: rapid growth in investment and product output is producing many nearly identical robot models, rather than supporting deep research or innovation — leading to oversaturation and declining quality.
- Despite the industry being declared a national priority, with major government backing, the NDRC said that “speed of growth” must be balanced against “bubble risk.”
This caution marks a rare moment of public skepticism from Beijing toward a sector it has otherwise aggressively promoted.
The context: a robotics boom chasing real‑world results
In recent years, China has poured money, talent and policy weight into what it calls “embodied AI”— robots that combine advanced AI systems with physical bodies to function as non-human workers in factories, services, and potentially daily life.
For instance:
- At the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), more than 150 humanoid robots were showcased.
- Companies such as Unitree Robotics have demonstrated robots with remarkable agility: their “G1” model reportedly performed kung‑fu moves and even a 720° spinning kick.
- The government projects that by 2030 and beyond, China’s humanoid‑robot market could grow to hundreds of billions of yuan, with robots deployed in manufacturing, healthcare, services, and more.
In other words, these “AI Employees” aren’t just sci‑fi — they are being built and deployed as potential labor replacements in real industries.
Why the bubble warning matters
- The NDRC’s alert signals a shift in tone: from “full steam ahead” to “proceed with caution.” That matters because China has treated embodied AI as a strategic future industry, aiming for global leadership.
- If many of the current humanoid‑robot firms fail — due to lack of commercial demand, poor differentiation, or technical obstacles — the fallout could ripple across the robotics ecosystem: investment could dry up, and public trust in “non‑human workers” might erode.
- It also raises a broader question: are we seeing real progress toward robots that genuinely replace or augment human labor — or simply a “hype‑cycle,” with prototypes, demos, and marketing running ahead of practical use cases? This matters not just for China, but for the entire global robotics industry.
What’s next: cautious optimism or a crash?
The coming months and years will test whether China’s robotics boom can transition from spectacle to substance. Key factors include:
- Whether companies shift investment from flashy demos (dancing robots, martial‑arts performers) to deeper R&D: building robots that can reliably perform real-world tasks in factories, logistics, healthcare, or services.
- Whether demand for humanoid robots grows outside of hype — i.e., whether businesses and institutions start deploying them at scale rather than buying them as status‑symbol “AI Employees.”
- How the broader global competition in embodied AI unfolds — especially as other countries weigh in, and as technical challenges (battery life, general-purpose AI, reliable autonomy) remain difficult.
In short: China’s robotics sector stands at a crossroads — and the next few years may determine whether humanoid robots become a foundational technological shift, or a cautionary example of robotics over‑hype.
Key Highlights:
- China’s NDRC warned in November 2025 that the booming humanoid robotics industry may be forming a speculative bubble, citing over 150 companies and risk of oversupply.
- The industry has seen dramatic growth — at the 2025 WAIC conference, more than 150 robots were showcased; companies such as Unitree have demonstrated robots doing martial arts and other impressive physical feats.
- Chinese policymakers view “embodied AI” — AI‑powered physical robots — as a major pillar of future economic and technological strength, aiming to address labor shortages and industrial efficiency.
- The warning signals show growing awareness that hype alone won’t guarantee success — the sector needs more genuine innovation, viable use cases, and sustainable demand to avoid collapse.
Reference:
https://www.theverge.com/news/831451/china-humanoid-robotics-bubble
