US accelerates humanoid robot supply chains as dependence on China faces scrutiny

American developers of humanoid robots, including 1X and Figure AI, are trying to reduce dependence on Chinese supplies. They are transferring more and more production stages to their own factories, writes Forbes.

The report challenges the position of the New York Times, which argued that assembling a humanoid without China was "nearly impossible." Forbes objects: several American companies are taking a different route - they are not trying to duplicate Chinese suppliers one-to-one.

Specific production solutions

The most compelling argument is specific production decisions. 1X, the creator of the NEO robot, designs and manufactures key components in-house at its plant in Hayward, California. We're talking about motors, batteries, housings, transmissions, soft parts and sensors.

Forbes also reports that NEO is expected to go on sale this year for $20,000 - or $500 per month for subscription.

Vertical integration as a strategy

Forbes emphasizes: 1X does more than just final assembly. The company cuts metal parts, operates automated lines for winding copper coils for motors, makes tendons for the movement of NEO's limbs and fingers, sews clothes for it, produces finger components and assembles batteries.

Dar Sleeper, head of 1X's design and product department, told Forbes that the company has reduced material costs by producing many of its parts in-house in the United States.

Figure AI is following a similar path with the Figure 03 robot. The company focuses on assembling key technologies internally - actuators, arms, batteries and final assembly, and outsources parts for individual assemblies when needed. Forbes notes that Figure's own battery production is a response to one of the most "Chinese" zones in the entire electronics and robotics supply chain.

The same report mentioned other American robot manufacturers with plans or existing factories in the United States:

Standard Bots, which recently raised $200 million, is planning to do everything in America.

Phantom produces its own cycloidal actuators.

Apptronik is building a plant in Texas.

Agility Robotics is already operating at RofoFab in Salem, Oregon.

1X plans to reach a capacity of more than 100,000 units per year by the end of 2027 - a second plant in California is being prepared for this. Figure claims similar volumes.

China's advantage is real, but not absolute

Forbes does not discount China's position. The article cites a McKinsey report: China has a significant share of the supply of key components for robots, especially magnets for motors. But for other categories - control boards, bearings, sensors - there are suppliers in South Korea, Japan, Germany, the USA and other countries.

For manufacturers and buyers of humanoids, McKinsey's findings are especially useful: the sector is still in a pre-modular phase. According to Forbes, OEMs are choosing between two less-than-ideal paths:

Deep vertical integration.

Close joint development with a small circle of partners based on industrial components converted to the needs of humanoids.

Both options speed up development. But none of them guarantee cheap scaling. Vertical integration places all production costs on one company. And repeated joint development can result in expensive rework for each new platform.

China still has clear advantages: government support, density of local suppliers and cost structure. A particularly sensitive bottleneck is rare earth magnets. Forbes notes that China controls most of the world's supply and is becoming increasingly selective in its exports.

The article mentions alternatives: MP Materials, with support from the Pentagon, is developing its own magnet production, Niron Magnetics is working on magnets without rare earth elements, and Evolution Metals & Technologies plans to produce 10,000 metric tons of magnets per year - mainly through recycling.

AI level as part of the supply picture

Forbes takes the discussion of humanoid supply chains beyond hardware. The point is that companies like Figure, 1X, Apptronik, Tesla and other US manufacturers are trying to control not only the actuators, batteries and final assembly, but also the physical AI - rather than ordering every major subsystem from an external vendor. This approach reduces dependence on certain suppliers, but increases execution risks.

The company, which itself develops drives, batteries and artificial intelligence software, is reducing the number of third-party suppliers at critical stages of production. But this comes at a price: the complexity of factories and the burden on capital are growing.

A report by Bessemer Venture Partners, cited by Forbes, states that at the current stage of development of humanoid robots, vertical integration through intelligence and data is becoming a decisive factor. Another important point in the Forbes analysis is the top chips for AI. Western companies allegedly have better access to Nvidia chips and other advanced AI hardware.

At the same time, the New York Times reports that UBTech is importing chips that control the movement of robots. Unitree, in turn, uses simulation software from Nvidia and announced a partnership on chips and software for logic and decision-making.

The practical question for the U.S. humanoid robot supply chain is not whether foreign components can be eliminated entirely. Forbes admits that raw materials and parts may still come from other countries. What's more difficult is whether vertically integrated robot manufacturers will be able to reach their stated production volumes while keeping reliability, cost, and useful physical intelligence under control.