Why Schaeffler keeps showing up in humanoid robotics
Schaeffler is building across supply, co-development, research, and deployment in humanoids.
Why Schaeffler keeps showing up in humanoid robotics
Schaeffler is a €23 billion industrial giant that makes bearings, precision components, and motion systems for automotive, aerospace, and heavy machinery. They supply the critical moving parts inside other companies' machines, and they are now applying a similar model to humanoid robotics. Through a calculated mix of strategic partnerships, equity investments, and their own dedicated hardware development, they have been consistently moving towards cornering the physical AI supply chain..
Source: Korthos relationship graph
Today they signed an MOU with VinDynamics, Vingroup's humanoid robotics unit, covering joint R&D and future commercial agreements on core humanoid components, including actuator systems and motors. This follows a series of highly differentiated strategic deals.
The earliest structurally significant move was a minority equity investment in Agility Robotics, paired with a purchase agreement for Agility's Digit humanoids. Unlike subsequent agreements, this deployed capital alongside commercial contracts. Digit is already working trial shifts in logistics and material handling across Schaeffler’s network.
Their agreement with Humanoid in the UK covers component development and an actuator supply agreement. Schaeffler became the preferred supplier for the company's wheeled platform and signed a purchase agreement for 200 humanoids over five years.
In Germany, the Neura Robotics deal combines component co-development with planned integration into Schaeffler's production network. Reuters reports a target of 3000 humanoids by 2035.
In China, a March 2026 partnership with Leju Robotics targets factory inspection, equipment operation, logistics, and human-robot collaboration. This is not an isolated deal; Schaeffler’s internal strategy previously designated Taicang as a humanoid ecosystem platform for Chinese R&D and industrial cooperation.
The NTU lab in Singapore sits furthest from commercial deployment, functioning purely as an R&D arm for AI-enabled humanoid capabilities.
Alongside external partnerships, Schaeffler is developing its own hardware portfolio encompassing e-motors, bearings, sensors, and smart actuators. At CES 2026, it debuted a humanoid-specific planetary gear actuator and recently won the Hermes Award for its integrated platform. Internal strategy decks confirm 32 sample orders and 1 serial order for humanoid components.
The company has described its ambition as becoming a preferred technology partner in humanoid robotics. The structure of what it has actually done gives that more weight than the language alone. Schaeffler is covering supply, co-development, equity, research, and internal adoption simultaneously. Crucially, they are positioning themselves as a scaling partner and supplying the actual assembly equipment to mass-produce the robots and designing the maintenance plans for their eventual end-of-life cycle.
They are building their own hardware for a category they are buying into, while simultaneously equipping the factory lines that will manufacture them for a target deployment across 100 global production plants by 2030.