This report is from this week’s CNBC The China Connection newsletter, bringing you news and analysis on what’s driving the world’s second-largest economy. You can subscribe here.
The big story
Chinese humanoid robots are about to arrive in the United States – before Elon Musk is ready to sell his Optimus machines.
During my visits to China’s “Silicon Valley” in Shenzhen over the past two years, I’ve seen humanoid startup LimX Dynamics grow from a rudimentary facility to a modern office tower with panoramic views and bolder ambitions.
Today, the company is exploring business collaborations in the United States, founder Will Zhang told me in an exclusive interview last week. A few days earlier, the startup presented its humanoid robot at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
This is all part of LimX’s drive to go global through local partners, including investors.
The first point on the road map is the Middle East. The startup has already found its first foreign backer in the region, where LimX plans to start shipping humanoids this year, Zhang said.
He could not publicly share the details of LimX’s new investors or the monetary amount, as the funding round is still ongoing. The new round will multiply the startup’s valuation compared to its previous Series A round, the startup said.
LimX raised $69.31 million as of July 2025, according to PitchBook, with backers including Alibaba, JD.com and Lenovo. Zhang declined to comment on the IPO plans.
“More than money, I focus on local partnerships,” Zhang said, emphasizing his intention to speak with more international investors in the coming months. Beyond the Middle East, he also sees potential in what he calls the large but fragmented market of Europe.
Shenzhen-based Limx Dynamics launched its life-size humanoid robot Oli in summer 2025.
Limx Dynamics
Competition with Elon Musk
LimX is not alone. Several other Chinese humanoid robot companies, such as Unitree, showed off their humanoids at CES. They join a growing number of China-based consumer electronics companies exploring the U.S. market.
All of this speaks to the growing pressure on Elon Musk’s humanoid robot projects, not only from US rival Figure AI, but also from Chinese companies that are ramping up their humanoid deliveries globally.
Last year, about 13,000 humanoids were shipped worldwide, according to research firm Omdia. Chinese companies, led by Agibot, dominate the top five in terms of deliveries. Figure placed seventh, while Tesla was ninth. Omdia said Tesla has shipped Optimus humanoid robots to business customers, but not yet to the public.
Thanks to the optimistic figures from the Omdia report, Morgan Stanley last week doubled its forecast for sales of humanoid robots in China this year, to 28,000 units, compared to a previous estimate of 14,000. The forecast includes only external sales.
“We expect corporate sales to be the main driver this year, taking over from last year’s public sector, R&D and entertainment-related sales,” stock analyst Shen Zhong said in the report. By 2050, the company predicts that China’s humanoid market could reach annual sales of 54 million units.
As for Optimus, Musk said last week in Davos that the robot would not start being sold to the public. until the end of 2027.
Ambitions to rank first in the world
LimX began shipping its humanoid robot, Oli, several months ago, Zhang said. The base model costs just 158,000 yuan ($22,660), using only apps created by LimX. A version that allows developers to integrate their own functions into the robot costs almost twice as much, at 290,000 yuan.
But Zhang wants to become a global leader in the underlying technology, rather than just another Chinese company commercializing existing ideas.
“We don’t think it’s necessary for the United States to lead and China to follow” in terms of technological innovation, he said.
Before founding LimX in 2022, Zhang was a full professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State University.
Its goal this year is to improve voice commands, eliminating the need for remote controls that still underpin many robot demonstrations today, such as performing a somersault on command. Zhang aims to achieve this through agentic artificial intelligence, an advanced form of AI capable of making a chain of decisions autonomously to complete a task.
Earlier this month, LimX announced an agent AI “operating system” called COSAdesigned to allow robots to adjust body movements in real time, for example when handling tennis balls.
2026 marks just the start of LimX’s three-year plan to deliver several thousand humanoid robots to the Middle East, primarily for research and development purposes, and to conduct case studies on how robots can provide services to humans. Plans for the United States have not yet come to fruition.
But, Zhang said, rapid progress in the industry means humanoid robots could be working alongside humans within five to 10 years. If all goes as planned, these robots will not just be in China, but deployed around the world.
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Benjamin Hung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council, explained how investors and companies are reassessing the risk of a heavy concentration in US assets while rebalancing their portfolios towards Asia, Greater China, gold and alternative assets.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said Hong Kong’s markets are becoming increasingly important on the global stage, attracting businesses not only from mainland China, but also from Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Kevin Sneader, president of APAC ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs, spoke about investor appetite for AI driving flows into Asian markets, while highlighting key nuances for standout countries like China and South Korea.
Need to know
Quote of the week
What has President Trump accomplished? He showed the world that China is a viable trading partner, a little more stable than the United States… Trump probably favored China in the long term in terms of hard power and soft power.
—Ed Price, Nonresident Senior Visiting Scholar, New York University
On the markets
Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rose Wednesday afternoon.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 index rose 0.49%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Indexwhich includes major Chinese companies, climbed 2.36%, leading gains among major Asian benchmarks.
The CSI 300 is up 1.7% year to date, while the Hang Seng Index is up more than 8%.
The benchmark 10-year Chinese government bond yield rose to 1.824%, while the offshore yuan last traded at 6.938 per dollar.
The performance of the Shanghai Composite over the past year.
Future
January 28 – 31: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visit China with representatives from Airbus, AstraZeneca, Baker McKenzie and other UK companies
January 31: Official China Manufacturing and Services PMI for January
February 1 – 7: Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi to pay state visit to China
February 2: RatingDog manufacturing PMI for January
February 4: RatingDog Services PMI for January
