China locks up 97% of humanoid robot shipments as US moves to ban imports

China's humanoid robot makers have turned a nascent industry into a near-monopoly before most rivals got off the ground. Smart Analytics Global, a California research firm, said Chinese companies shipped more than 18,500 of roughly 19,100 humanoid robots sold worldwide in the first half of 2026, above 97% of the total, according to a Bloomberg report carried by Yahoo Finance. China also accounted for more than 85% of global demand.

Global shipments more than tripled from 5,100 units a year earlier, a 272% increase. Shanghai-based Agibot took the top spot with 8,400 units, 44% of the market, overtaking Hangzhou's Unitree, which shipped 5,900, or 31%. Together the two firms control roughly three-quarters of global supply. US makers Tesla, Figure AI and Agility Robotics trailed far behind, per TechNode's account of the report.

SAG forecasts annual shipments will hit about 60,000 units in 2026 and half a million by 2030, generating roughly $3 billion in revenue. The firm's founder, Linda Sui, said "industrial and commercial applications accounted for more than 70% of shipments, up from approximately 50% a year earlier," pointing to a shift from demo units toward paying factory and warehouse customers.

The shipment tally counts units delivered, not robots performing sustained productive work, and analysts still regard the underlying technology as immature. The figures nonetheless landed the same day Unitree opened its share subscription for a Shanghai listing, positioning it as the first humanoid robot maker on China's A-share market.

The commercial surge collided with a policy shift in Washington. In late July the US moved to ban imports of new Chinese-made humanoid and quadruped robots, along with some components, citing security grounds.

China's scale advantage now looks structural rather than temporary: Agibot and Unitree combined outship the entire rest of the world several times over, and Unitree's public listing gives it capital to widen that gap further. The import ban protects US manufacturers from Chinese competition at home but does nothing to slow Chinese suppliers' hold on the rest of the global market, where demand is already concentrated in China itself.

The real test for investors is the gap between shipments and deployment. With 70% of units now going into industrial and commercial settings, Chinese makers are betting that volume and price will convert into real-world utility before Tesla, Figure AI or Agility Robotics can close the gap from a standing start.