Europe risks falling behind in the global robotics race
With China producing nearly nine in ten of the world’s humanoid robots and European startups starved of capital, experts are asking whether the continent can still compete, or whether it has already missed the moment.
China’s dominance in humanoid robotics was on full display at the start of 2026, with Hangzhou-based Unitree at the forefront of innovation and 87% of all humanoid robots delivered in 2025 were made in China.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz witnessed a live display of robots dancing and doing backflips during a visit to Hangzhou, returning home to warn that Germany was ‘simply no longer productive enough.’
European robotics startups face a stark funding gap compared to their US and Chinese rivals. Rodion Shishkov, founder of the London-based construction technology company All3, described having to ‘literally fight’ for tens of millions of euros, whilst similarly positioned American counterparts could secure billions of dollars with the same effort.
Barclays’ research suggests the global humanoid robotics market, currently worth $2–3 billion, could reach $200 billion by 2035, making the stakes of falling behind significant.
Andrei Danescu, CEO of the logistics robotics startup Dexory, warned that Europe should not confuse a strong industrial tradition with genuine momentum. He called on European regulators to set clearer standards, establish liability frameworks for autonomous systems, and align public investment levels with the strategic ambitions of other global players.
One industry analyst noted that achieving hardware independence from Chinese supply chains in robotics would be ‘naive’ to expect, but argued that Europe still has significant ground to claim on the intelligence and data side of the sector.
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