China expects humanoid robot output to top 100,000 units this year
China's industry ministry says the country built 40,000-plus humanoids in the first half and expects full-year output above 100,000.
China expects to produce more than 100,000 humanoid robots this year, a senior industry ministry official said at a State Council press briefing in Beijing on Monday, October 19 — putting a hard number on the country's drive to move embodied AI from laboratories into factories, stores and homes.
Wei Wei, director general of the Department of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said China had developed more than 400 whole-machine humanoid models in the first half of 2026, with output above 40,000 units. He described embodied AI, represented by humanoid robots, as a key vehicle for bridging digital AI and the physical world.
The ministry laid out a four-part plan: attack shared technology bottlenecks — motion control, simulation and tactile sensing — through open-call research; widen deployment with on-site training across industry, special operations and public services; complete the industrial ecosystem with the 2026 National Humanoid Robot Industry Standards System Guidelines and an open-source community; and hold the safety line with industry monitoring, product-quality and data-security testing, and ethical governance.
Deployment is already broad. Under a government real-world training campaign, embodied AI products are being tested and deployed across more than 300 priority scenarios, including warehousing, logistics, catering, retail and household services. The ministry said it will encourage retail and commercial businesses to open their facilities for robot testing and real-world applications.
The 100,000 figure is output, not sales — independent tallies put actual 2026 shipments far lower, with most units still going to labs, pilots and showcases. But backed by standards, scenario-opening policy and a nine-department opinion pushing embodied intelligence into commerce, the target signals Beijing's intent to make 2026 the year humanoid production scales.