At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, robots stole the spotlight, pouring coffee and playing ping pong, underscoring a global robotics race fracturing along geographic lines. Chinese firms dominated, showcasing advanced humanoids transitioning from labs to retail and industry.
The split of Chinese excelling in hardware bodies, Europe in aerial drones, and the US in software brains strengthens the divergent paths amid surging AI integration.
Human-inspired robots, aptly called humanoids, have emerged as the tech industry’s big bet on what is coming next. They stand up front like people, greet others, help us perform some activities, and perform complex tasks.
China dominates the humanoid market.
The humanoids market could surpass $5 trillion by 2050, including sales from supply chains and networks for repair, maintenance, and support.
China’s rapid growth in the humanoid sector has strengthened its manufacturing capabilities with government backing. At CES, companies like Unitree unveiled next-gen models that would be technological breakthroughs and upgrades in the robotics sector.
Beijing has produced bots entering retail, alongside consumer goods, signalling commercial maturity. Holding about 51 per cent global market share, China’s ecosystem has prioritised volume deployment in factories and services.
Although humanoids are still under development, there could be more than 1 billion by 2050, with 90 per cent used for industrial and commercial purposes.
Morgan Stanley Research estimates the humanoid market is likely to reach $5 trillion by 2050, including related supply chains, as well as repair, maintenance, and support. There could be more than 1 billion humanoids in use by 2050.
Drone building supremacy
European startups leaned more towards drone development and precision agriculture at CES. France sent at least 150 firms, including most in exoskeletons and some in haptic tech. Strengthening defence-focused initiatives and developing widely researched drones could make European countries a central manufacturing hub.
The Bavarian drone company Quantum Systems has raised €160 million. It is now valued at more than €1 billion, making it the first German unicorn of 2025 and the second defense startup, after Helsing, to achieve this status.
Since the Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022, Quantum Systems has transitioned from the agricultural sector to defense technology. Its AI-assisted drones are used internationally, with revenues rising to €110 million in 2023 and expected to exceed €200 million in 2024.
How the US specifies the program
America dominates premium software and medical bots. To help developers optimize robot performance and reliability, Nvidia is also open-sourcing Greenwave Monitor, a tool that enables them to identify performance bottlenecks, accelerating robot development.
Boston Dynamics (owned by Hyundai) previewed the new Atlas, blending hardware with advanced software.
For setting up drones and humanoid robots, specific software programs are required. The US builds them in a scientific way that ensures consistency, high-speed performance, and future-proofing across the entire program.
