Unitree has delivered more than 5,500 humanoid robots, a figure that puts China's manufacturing muscle in the spotlight. The shipments arrive as investors look for alternatives to the heavily financed U.S. artificial intelligence buildout, and Devere Group CEO Nigel Green sees the exports as one such option.
A manufacturing milestone
The delivery count, disclosed by the company, underscores how quickly China has scaled up humanoid robot production. Unitree, a robotics firm based in Hangzhou, has been shipping units to customers across industries, though the company has not broken down where all the robots went or which models led the tally.
What the number shows is capacity. Producing thousands of humanoid robots requires a supply chain for actuators, sensors, batteries, and control systems — the kind of industrial base that has made China a dominant player in consumer electronics and, increasingly, in robotics hardware.
An alternative for investors
Nigel Green, CEO of Devere Group, a global financial advisory firm, said the exports give investors a way to bet on AI without tying everything to U.S. tech giants. His point: American AI spending has been heavy on data centers, chips, and cloud infrastructure — capital-intensive projects that carry their own risks.
China's robot production, by contrast, offers exposure to physical AI — machines that move, grip, and interact with the world. That's a different kind of demand, one that doesn't depend solely on software subscriptions or advertising revenue. Green's comments come as fund managers scan for sectors that might ride the AI wave without duplicating the crowded U.S. trade.
Physical AI demand
The phrase "physical AI" is getting traction among investors who think the next stage of artificial intelligence won't just be about chatbots and recommendation engines. Humanoid robots are a direct play on that idea. They need vision systems, motor controls, and real-time decision-making — all the things that make AI tangible.
China's expanding robot output means investors can tap into that demand through companies that build the machines themselves, or through the parts suppliers that feed the assembly lines. It's a shift away from the abstract, server-farm version of AI toward something you can watch walk across a factory floor.
For now, Unitree's delivery number is a single data point. The bigger question is whether other Chinese robot makers can match that scale, and whether the market for humanoid robots grows fast enough to justify the production lines already humming.
