The humanoid supply chain is being assembled from China's EV, drone and consumer-electronics base, with Japanese and European incumbents holding the precision parts.
A supplier database of 124 companies, tagged by component, city, founding year and listing, and by which humanoid OEMs they serve (Tesla, Figure AI, AGIBOT, Unitree), shows the shape of the chain. Reducers (20), sensors (19) and screws (15) are the largest categories; hand units (9), motors (10), materials (8), actuators (6) and PCBs (6) follow. Every captured row is a China-listed firm: CATL under other components, Bafang in motors, Beite in screws, Baowu in magnesium, Bozhong in assemblies, AVIC Electromech and Changqing in hands.
The incumbents sit elsewhere. Nabtesco holds about 60% of the global RV-reducer market and Harmonic Drive and Sumitomo share strain-wave supply; NSK, THK and SKF hold about 70% of ball screws; Heidenhain and Renishaw lead encoders. Servo motors come from the arm makers themselves (ABB, FANUC, KUKA, Yaskawa) and from Panasonic, Bosch, Siemens and Robotis.
What makes the Chinese chain different is density rather than any single supplier. A Suzhou gripper maker sources every subcomponent within a 25-minute drive, and a micro-actuator plant can redesign and re-cut a failed part by lunch. China built over 12 million EVs in 2024, which commoditized lithium-ion packs now being repackaged for robots; DJI-era drone motors feed directly into actuators; iPhone-class cameras, radios and flex PCBs are off the shelf.
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