Humanoid robots have entered a clear new phase since agentic AI emerged in 2025, with DIGITIMES analyst Zouhao Shen saying the category is now moving toward a three-tier hardware architecture of the brain, cerebellum, and peripheral nerves. He said the shift is reshaping the market and setting the stage for rapid growth through 2030.
Taiwanese automation integrator DS Technology is shifting more of its highly customized robotic automation work toward standardized, modular systems as it seeks to make its technology easier to sell and deploy overseas, with prospective partners in Brazil and Mexico among its latest expansion targets.
As the first publicly listed humanoid robot company, Ubtech Robotics is often referred to in China as the sector's "first humanoid robot stock." At the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, the company found itself sharing the spotlight with recently listed Unitree Robotics, as both showcased their latest humanoid platforms.
At the "AI on Chips: Semiconductor Industry Trends Forum" hosted by DIGITIMES in Taipei on August 20, semiconductor, investment, and financial executives gathered to discuss the industry's next frontier. During the event, DIGITIMES deputy director Jason Tsai pointed out that as electricity supply struggles to keep pace with soaring compute demands, energy efficiency per unit of compute power will dictate the future fate of AI data centers.
The battlefield for Chinese humanoid robotics is shifting from motors, joints, and mechanical structures toward AI large models. As embodied AI models begin handling perception, task planning, and motion control, manufacturers are working to deploy a single AI capability across diverse robots and application scenarios, effectively decoupling the robot's "brain" from its "body."
