Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng is considering significant investments in humanoid robots, potentially reaching up to 100 billion yuan ($13.80 billion), as reported by state media on Monday. Xpeng's CEO, He Xiaopeng, mentioned during the annual parliamentary session that the company's current investment is viewed as conservative given its early-stage presence in the sector. He indicated readiness to ramp up investments considerably.
Xiaopeng stated, "Xpeng has been engaged in the humanoid robot industry for five years and may continue for another 20 years, potentially investing an additional 50 billion yuan or even 100 billion yuan," as reported by the Securities Times. While not revealing the current investment figures, Xpeng, based in Guangzhou, ventured into the humanoid robot industry in 2020 and introduced its humanoid Iron model in November to compete with Tesla Bot.
The interest in humanoids extends beyond Xpeng, with other automakers like Stellantis-backed Leapmotor also venturing into this field. Leapmotor's CEO, Zhu Jiangming, mentioned that its robot team is at the pre-research stage, targeting applications in industrial settings such as factory assemblies to enhance work efficiency by substituting robots for humans.
Moreover, there is a growing trend among automakers to invest 1-2 billion yuan yearly in various scenarios to deploy humanoid robots, according to a report by Economic View. This demonstrates the industry's interest in technological advancements in line with Chinese policymakers' focus on this sector.
(1 US dollar equals approximately 7.2480 Chinese yuan renminbi)