Reuters confirmed this week that Chinese automakers’ humanoid robot ambitions have moved well past the mood board stage, with Xpeng’s robotics subsidiary closing a $900 million Series A at a post-money valuation of more than $6.3 billion. The round was led by IDG Capital, with Gaorong Ventures, Tencent, and Alibaba also participating.
Xpeng described it as the largest single-round private financing ever recorded in China’s ’embodied AI’ industry. That is quite a claim. It is also, given the current mood in the sector, entirely plausible.
Xpeng’s Robotics Unit Puts a Number on the Dream
The robotics subsidiary’s stated plan is to reach a monthly output of 1,000 units of its IRON humanoid robot by the end of the year, with initial deployments at Xpeng’s retail stores and industrial campuses. Commercial sales in China and overseas markets are scheduled to begin in 2027, according to Reuters.
Proceeds from the raise, per the Xpeng official newsroom, will fund robotics hardware and software development, physical AI model training, data collection, end-to-end mass-production facilities, and global expansion. Which is to say: everything. The company is building from scratch.
Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng and co-president Brian Gu have invested roughly $100 million of their own money into the round, according to the Wall Street Journal. Michael Dunne, CEO of advisory firm Dunne Insights, put the strategic logic plainly: ‘He sees razor-thin profit in cars on the near horizon. Robots look much more promising.’
The timing of the announcement was not entirely triumphant. Dealroom reported the fundraise was announced alongside Xpeng’s second-quarter results, which showed revenue of RMB 19.74 billion (US$2.91 billion), up 8% year-over-year but short of the RMB 20.57 billion analyst consensus. Net loss widened to RMB 1.34 billion from RMB 0.48 billion in the prior year. Shares fell 3.5% in premarket trading. A record funding round and a miss on earnings in the same breath: the humanoid robot pivot is at least partly about changing the story.
Chinese Automakers and Humanoid Robots: A Crowded Field Forming Fast
Xpeng is the furthest along among the Chinese automakers chasing humanoid robots, but it is far from alone. BYD has unveiled a humanoid called Xiao Di. Changan, GAC, Li Auto, SAIC, and Seres are all developing their own versions. And Chery’s robotics unit, AiMOGA, is preparing for a potential IPO.
AiMOGA’s trajectory deserves a closer look. Incubated by Chery in January 2025, the company has already delivered more than 3,000 robots globally, including 2,000 overseas, across more than 60 countries and regions, according to Reuters. It is targeting 10,000 deliveries globally next year. Zhang Guibing, head of the business and president of Chery International, told Reuters the company is ‘in discussions with several (IPO) locations’ but declined to give details on timing or venue.
Dunne’s read on the competitive picture is blunt. Chinese automakers ‘have all the hardware to get the job done,’ he said. ‘Question is if they can catch Tesla on the AI side of the equation.’ That AI gap is the thing to watch: the hardware is converging quickly; the software is where reputations will be made.
For context on where valuations are running globally, Figure AI is reported to carry a $39 billion valuation from its September 2025 round. Apptronik closed an extended $935 million Series A. Agility Robotics is heading towards a public listing through a special purpose acquisition company at approximately $2.5 billion, which would make it the first Western humanoid manufacturer with a live listing route. On the Chinese side, Unitree, the best-known domestically listed humanoid robot maker, soared approximately six-fold on its STAR Market debut, having shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025 (more than any manufacturer globally), per aggregated private-market data.
It is a sector where every number sounds made up until it isn’t.
The non-Chinese field is moving too. Mobileye acquired Israeli humanoid startup Mentee Robotics for $900 million, a deal that closed on 3 February 2026 per Mobileye’s SEC 10-Q filing. The structure comprised approximately $612 million in cash and up to approximately 26.2 million shares of Mobileye Class A common stock, subject to adjustment. According to the Mobileye investor relations newsroom, first on-site proof-of-concept deployments with customers are expected in 2026, with series production targeted for 2028. Hyundai, meanwhile, plans to bring Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot to its Georgia factory and begin deploying it for tasks like parts sequencing by 2028.
The race has a clear 2028 cluster forming: multiple manufacturers, Eastern and Western, converging on the same commercialisation window. Whoever gets there first with reliable, scalable deployment, not just impressive videos, will define what the rest of the decade looks like for the sector.
