On January 22 Yush Technology issued a public clarification disputing widely circulated estimates of its 2025 humanoid-robot shipments, saying it delivered more than 5,500 pure humanoid units last year. The company emphasized that this figure represents units actually shipped to end customers, not orders, and excludes other robot forms such as two-armed wheeled platforms. Yush also said more than 6,500 core bodies rolled off its production line in 2025.
Market-research firms have produced lower tallies. Omdia estimated Yush’s 2025 shipments at about 4,200 units and placed Zhiyuan Robotics at roughly 5,168, while IDC put global humanoid shipments in 2025 at about 18,000 units and estimated Yush at roughly 4,700 and Zhiyuan at about 5,200. Both firms and some industry participants acknowledge methodological uncertainty: analysts draw on supply-chain signals, partner disclosures and sampling, and definitions of what counts as a ‘‘humanoid’’ vary across data sets.
The headline dispute matters because shipment numbers shape investor confidence, vendor rankings and customers’ buying decisions at a formative moment for the sector. China already dominates the volume side of the nascent global market: IDC estimated the 2025 market at roughly $440 million and said Chinese firms accounted for the lion’s share of delivered units, while international vendors remain in pilot or validation phases.
Beyond aggregate volumes, the composition of shipments is revealing. IDC’s breakdown shows Zhiyuan shipped about 1,300 full‑size biped robots (roughly adult height), while Yush shipped around 200 such units. Both firms, along with several others including Leju, Accelerating Evolution and Songyan Power, reported shipments in the hundreds to low thousands, indicating a move beyond prototypes toward higher-volume production for specific use cases.
Use cases remain concentrated. IDC identifies six major application areas—entertainment and live performance, research and education, data collection, tour and retail guidance, industrial manufacturing and warehouse logistics—with entertainment and performance still the largest single category. Zhiyuan shows broader scene diversity across those categories, while Yush’s second-largest application is research and education, reflecting different commercial strategies.
Industry executives and commentators argue 2026 will be a pivot year. One founder observed that earlier waves focused on demonstrating mobility and raising funds; the next phase will be about ‘‘using’’ robots at scale in real operational environments. Tian Feng of the Quick-Think Institute forecast steep volume growth, projecting about 50,000 domestic humanoid shipments in 2026 and warning that three constraints—paying customers, factory capacity and the robots’ cognitive ‘‘brain’’—will determine who survives.
The data disagreements underline a broader transparency gap. Vendors typically release selective metrics (orders, production starts, shipments) and define product families differently, making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. Research houses flag that their tables are estimates and rely on discretely sourced signals; company pushbacks highlight the commercial sensitivity of disclosing granular channel and client information.
For global observers the debate signals both risk and opportunity. On the upside, multiple Chinese firms appear to have crossed the production and delivery thresholds that separate lab demos from commercial product lines. On the downside, buyers and investors are being asked to judge progress while core questions—durability, service economics, integration with existing work processes and safety in public-facing roles—remain unresolved.
That ambiguity frames the immediate challenge for 2026: converting shipments into sustained, verifiable productivity gains. Vendors that can demonstrate measurable returns in specific verticals—logistics throughput, venue ticket revenue uplift, or research-lab cost savings—will set the standards for valuation and wider adoption. Those that cannot will be exposed when the market shifts from showrooms and performances to multi-site, continuous operation.