Morgan Stanley analysts have significantly raised their forecast for the 2026 supply of humanoid robots from China, from 28,000 to 50,000. As the South China Morning Post reports, this is the second upward revision in a year: in January, the bank doubled its initial rating from 14,000 to 28,000 devices.

The sharp rise in expectations is linked to the market entry of new players such as Xpeng, who announced mass production by year’s end. Additional drivers demonstrate the commercial viability of technology, massive government support, and supply-chain transformation. Morgan Stanley predicts that the share of full-size humanoid robots will increase steadily, reaching 50% in 2027 and 70% in 2028.

Chinese developers are actively using internal competition and large-scale pilot projects to gather the data needed to teach AI and improve machine performance. Beijing, for its part, has launched a nationwide program that shifts the focus from exhibition demonstrations to real-world robotization in factories, warehouses, and medical facilities.

The trend toward automation is being reinforced by other tech giants. Thus, at the end of 2025, Midea Group unveiled the MIRO U six-handed industrial robot, and in June 2026, Alibaba released a comprehensive set of AI models for "embodied artificial intelligence" designed to control robots in the physical environment.