China’s Manufacturing Machine Shifts From Smartphones to Humanoid Robots

China’s smartphone supply chain is rapidly transforming into a humanoid robot manufacturing ecosystem, with major suppliers like Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology, and AAC Technologies repurposing their precision‑component factories for robotics. Companies are scaling aggressively: Foxconn is preparing robot production lines in Vietnam, UBTech’s Walker S2 has entered mass production with over 800 million yuan in orders, and Morgan Stanley has doubled its 2026 sales forecast to 28,000 units. The shift is driven by industrial logic — the same motors, sensors, batteries, and thermal systems used in smartphones are also core components of humanoid robots. With China controlling an estimated 90 percent of the global humanoid robot market, the factories that built the smartphone era are now building the robots that will assemble the next generation of consumer electronics.

Read the full story on TNW →