China's 80% Grip on Humanoid Robot Market Exposes US AI Strategy Gaps

China signaled a new landscape in the AI technology race by capturing 80% of the global humanoid robot market last year. The concentration of production and deployment of human-like robots in a single country suggests that other nations, including the United States, need to adjust their AI strategies. Out of approximately 16,000 humanoid robots deployed worldwide last year, 13,000 were deployed in China, securing over an 80% market share. Shanghai AiBot shipped 5,200 units, and Hangzhou Unitree Robotics shipped 4,200, surpassing Tesla's 5% market share, which is the highest among Western companies.

Currently operational industrial robots in China exceed 2 million units, representing four times the number in Japan and five times that of the US and South Korea respectively. Newsweek reported on the 15th (local time) that China is overtaking the US in robot production, deployment, and on-site AI application. Max Fenkell of Scale AI commented that while the US leads in models and semiconductors, it is lagging in data and real-world applications. China is pursuing a 15-year plan aiming for AGI development by 2035, in contrast to the US's four-page national AI policy proposal. Susan Biller, Secretary General of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), noted that the US has been slow to initiate discussions on the necessity of a national robotics strategy.

China is accelerating AI diffusion through its open-source strategy, with Alibaba's AI model 'Qwen' cited as an example. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has analyzed that China is concentrating national subsidies and industrial resources into the AI sector.

South Korea, with 1,012 industrial robots per 10,000 workers, is the world's top country for robot density and ranks fourth globally in the robot market. However, its patent share in the AI autonomous robot sector stands at 12%, trailing the US (35%) and China (30%). Diagnoses suggest that a supply chain structure with high reliance on overseas core components could be a hindrance to mid- to long-term competitiveness.

Hyundai Motor Group's deployment of the humanoid robot 'Atlas' at its Georgia plant in the US, and Samsung Electronics' investment in Rainbow Robotics, are interpreted as moves underscoring the growing importance of acquiring real-world data in the AI hegemony race. The competition for AI dominance ultimately boils down to who can acquire more real-world data, faster and more broadly. As robots increasingly fill factories and homes, the data gap is likely to solidify in a way that is difficult to reverse. While the US's semiconductor export controls remain as a last line of defense, the outcome of the real-world data competition is already becoming evident.