China's UBTECH expands overseas reach with Airbus robot deal

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese humanoid robot developer UBTECH has struck a deal to supply robots to European aviation giant Airbus for use in its manufacturing facilities, the tech firm, located in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province, said on Wednesday.

Airbus has purchased UBTECH's industrial humanoid robot, the Walker S2, as part of a joint effort to explore the application of humanoid robots in aviation manufacturing, UBTECH said.

This cooperation endeavor follows a similar partnership UBTECH formed last year with U.S. semiconductor maker Texas Instruments, highlighting the Chinese firm's accelerating overseas expansion as it seeks to deploy humanoid robots across a range of industrial sectors, including aviation and automotive manufacturing, consumer electronics, smart logistics and semiconductor production.

UBTECH said total orders for its humanoid robots hit 1.4 billion yuan (about 200 million U.S. dollars) in 2025, while production capacity for its industrial humanoid robots is expected to exceed 10,000 units in 2026.

Beyond the domestic market, the company said it is stepping up efforts to enter overseas manufacturing markets, including Europe and the United States.

UBTECH began mass production of its full-size industrial humanoid robot model, the Walker S2, in November last year. The robot stands 1.76 meters tall and is capable of autonomous battery-swapping.

An industry report revealed that Chinese robotics firms had emerged as the largest producers of humanoid robots worldwide in 2025, highlighting the country's rapid rise in this emerging manufacturing sector.

Shanghai-based AgiBot achieved an annual shipment volume of over 5,100 units last year, securing a 39-percent share of the global humanoid robot market and ranking first in the world for both shipment volume and market share. It was followed by Unitree and UBTECH, which recorded shipment volumes of 4,200 and 1,000 units, respectively, according to the report released by Omdia, a tech consultancy based in London. ■