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Xinmei Shen

China is widening its lead over the United States in the race to develop humanoid robots, with Chinese firms accounting for six of the world’s 10 most innovative start-ups in the sector, according to a new report tracking global patent data, as Washington moves to restrict imports of robots, including those made in China.
Firms from China dominated the ranking released by legal research platform LexisNexis on Tuesday, claiming a clean sweep of the top five.
The top five places went to Shanghai-based Fourier and AgiBot, Shenzhen-based LimX Dynamics and Pudu Robotics, and Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics. Shenzhen’s Leju Robot also made the top 10, ranking ninth.
By contrast, only three US start-ups made the cut: Figure AI, Apptronik and Agility Robotics, which took sixth, eighth and 10th positions, respectively. Germany’s Agile Robots was the sole European entrant, ranking seventh.
LexisNexis said it evaluated the “strength” of patent assets held by private start-ups that had demonstrated at least one bipedal walking robot. Its proprietary metric, the Patent Asset Index, measured patent portfolio size, technological value and geographic scope.
The study highlighted a “clear shift towards China” in terms of innovation across three key humanoid technologies. Over the past decade, patent filings from China-based inventors doubled in interaction systems, expanded by 2.5 times in morphology, and jumped fivefold in control and planning architectures, it said.
The results not only reflected the high number of patents filed in China, but also the value of those inventions based on market coverage and the degree to which subsequent innovations build upon them, according to LexisNexis.


In morphology – which explores the form, shape and structure of robots – China accounted for 63 per cent of aggregate global patent asset value in 2025, up from 49 per cent in 2020, the report found.
By contrast, the US held 11 per cent in 2025, down slightly from 12 per cent five years earlier.
China’s humanoid robot sector has accelerated rapidly in recent years, with tech giants and start-ups racing towards mass production and commercial deployment across various industries.
The country accounted for more than four out of five humanoid robot global installations last year, according to a report by Counterpoint Research in January. The rapid expansion was driven by domestic start-ups AgiBot and Unitree Robotics, which respectively took 30.4 per cent and 26.4 per cent of the global market, Counterpoint said.
China’s fast advancements in the industry have prompted scrutiny in Washington, as the world’s two largest economies compete fiercely across a range of hi-tech industries.
On Tuesday, without naming China, the Trump administration announced bans on imports of new robots and power inverters, citing threats to US national security and supply chain vulnerabilities.
Last week, the US House of Representatives voted to ban the military from using autonomous systems from foreign countries including China, with the proposal included in this year’s National Defence Authorisation Act.
Section 163 of the bill seeks to bar the Pentagon from procuring, leasing or operating covered humanoid robotic systems linked to designated “foreign adversaries”, including China, Russia and Iran.


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The LexisNexis study identified a ‘clear shift towards China’ in the humanoid robot race, with the US falling behind


The LexisNexis study identified a ‘clear shift towards China’ in the humanoid robot race, with the US falling behind.


China has 6 of world’s 10 most innovative humanoid robot start-ups: report

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The LexisNexis study identified a ‘clear shift towards China’ in the humanoid robot race, with the US falling behind

The LexisNexis study identified a ‘clear shift towards China’ in the humanoid robot race, with the US falling behind