State of the Machines: Humanoid Supply Chain Briefing — Week of Jul 27, 2026

The FCC has added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices to its Covered List, preventing newly affected models from receiving equipment authorisation unless they obtain conditional US defence approval. The measure took effect on 28 July and covers humanoids, quadrupeds and related robotic systems.

Previously authorised models remain permitted, although the FCC retains the power to revoke existing approvals.

US officials cited cybersecurity, data theft, critical-infrastructure and supply-chain risks. Unitree could be among the most exposed manufacturers because of its established US academic and research customer base.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has called for the measures to be withdrawn and warned of unspecified countermeasures if the US maintains them.

ROBOTIS says it is unable to fill roughly half of incoming actuator orders. The figures cover its wider actuator business rather than humanoid-only demand, though the company is explicitly expanding around humanoids, particularly in China, where Q2 sales alone exceeded the 80,000 actuators it sold there across all of 2025.

ROBOTIS produced around 220,000 units globally last year and expects 2026 output to reach 400,000 to 500,000. It is expanding through a new Uzbekistan facility, with a longer-term target above 5 million units of annual capacity by 2031.

ROBOTIS is also moving downstream with AI Sapiens K1, a complete humanoid platform built around its DYNAMIXEL Q actuators.

Elsewhere in actuators, Leadshine reported more than 1 million frameless-motor orders in H1, versus over 120,000 units delivered across all of 2025. This figure reflects signed orders, not shipments, and spans robotics markets beyond humanoids.

Its humanoid portfolio spans frameless motors, integrated joints and dexterous hands, although the company has not disclosed how much of the H1 order book came from humanoid customers.

Source: ROBOTIS

Chinese industry reporting says Tesla asked suppliers to prepare component capacity equivalent to 1,000 Optimus sets per week by September, rising to 2,000 to 2,500 by year-end. Suppliers were reportedly already seeing specific August purchase orders covering parts for several hundred robots. The wider planning framework was reportedly built around roughly 100,000 robot-equivalent component sets.

Tesla has not confirmed those figures. It separately confirmed on 22 July that construction for Optimus had begun at Fremont after the Model S and Model X lines were decommissioned. Initial production lines are now being installed, with output expected to begin later in 2026.

The factory buildout supports the direction of the supplier reporting but does not validate the stated weekly rates. Suppliers also indicated that available year-end capacity could remain below the wider framework.

Dongfang reported RMB83M (approximately US$12.3M) in signed H1 orders tied to Kuavo 5 production, of which RMB26.66M (approximately US$3.9M) had been recognised as revenue. Its Foshan site entered scaled production in March and targets annual capacity of 10,000 robots.

LG Electronics has begun producing AXIUM robot actuators at its Changwon plant, with full commercial operations slated for Q3. Customer names, capacity and revenue targets remain undisclosed.

AXIUM integrates the motor, reducer and drive into a single joint unit. LG is positioning it for external manufacturers as well as its own robotics programmes and has consolidated business development, sales, operations, supply chain and manufacturing under a new Robotics Business Center.

Source: Leju Robotics

Stabilus and Synapticon are industrialising complete humanoid actuators spanning lower-load head and wrist joints through higher-load hip and knee applications. European small-series production is planned for 2027, followed by larger North American output from 2028.

Wolong Electric Drive and Swancor Advanced Materials have agreed to develop customised production lines and precision assembly for robot joints, adding to Wolong’s existing range of frameless motors, reducers, servo drives, integrated joints and dexterous hands.

Joyson Electronics expanded its robotics and embodied-intelligence portfolio with a 20-degree-of-freedom dexterous hand, electronic skin, AI head assemblies and robot batteries. Its robot controllers are already in volume production, although customer names, unit volumes and the humanoid share remain undisclosed.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it is preparing high-pixel sensing modules for humanoid robots and is also developing autofocus and long-range 3D-sensing products. Industry reporting says camera-module pilot production is underway at its Vietnam manufacturing base for a major global customer, with quality stabilisation and mass-production validation in progress. The customer, unit volumes and expected revenue remain undisclosed.

HyProMag USA is accelerating finished NdFeB magnet production at its Texas hub, targeting initial commissioning in H1 2027 using up to 20 tonnes of magnet blocks sourced from Europe. Fully integrated US recycling and magnet manufacturing remains targeted for Q2 2028.

China accounted for 60% of mined magnet rare earths, 91% of refining and 94% of sintered permanent-magnet production in 2024. The concentration became more visible after 2025 export controls disrupted supplies and forced some manufacturers outside China to reduce utilisation or pause production.

Announced non-Chinese metals, alloys and finished-magnet projects total around 18,000 tonnes of planned capacity by 2035, equivalent to roughly one-third of the planned diversified mining pipeline by rare-earth-element content.

In China, Tianhe Magnetic Materials has established a Guangdong subsidiary focused on magnetic materials and customised magnetic assemblies for humanoid robots, low-altitude systems and consumer electronics, extending precision magnet processing closer to downstream customers.

HyProMag targets humanoid robotics alongside defence, aerospace, automotive and other industrial applications. Its initial 20-tonne phase is strategically relevant but small relative to global supply.