Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to August this year, the operating revenue of China's industrial enterprises above designated size grew 6.6% year-on-year, driving a 15.7% year-on-year increase in their profits, with cumulative growth remaining in double digits since the start of the year.
Specifically, from January to August, profits in the electronics sector surged 1.1 times year-on-year, contributing 62.0% to the profit growth of all industrial enterprises above designated size, serving as a key pillar for the relatively rapid profit growth of these enterprises; profits in high-tech manufacturing above designated size rose 54.7% year-on-year, 39.0 percentage points higher than the overall industrial sector; and profits in the navigation, surveying, meteorology, and marine specialized instrument manufacturing sector jumped 2.2 times.
Notably, some listed companies disclosed in their 2026 interim reports that, benefiting from the development of the humanoid robot market, revenue from navigation product businesses grew rapidly. In recent months, what changes have occurred in the humanoid robot market in terms of demand volume, applications, and delivery timelines? Compared with traditional navigation businesses, what different requirements does the humanoid robot market place on navigation products? What is the current supply and demand situation in this track? Recently, a reporter from National Business Daily conducted interviews around these questions.
In interpreting this set of data, Yu Weining, chief statistician of the Industrial Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, pointed out that the accelerated expansion of new technology applications represented by artificial intelligence has driven demand in related fields, propelling high-speed profit growth in the electronics sector. From the breakdown data, from January to August this year, emerging scenarios such as new energy vehicles, the Internet of Things, and computing power centers drove increased demand for chips, with profits in the related optoelectronic device manufacturing and semiconductor discrete device manufacturing sectors growing 72.0% and 51.8% respectively; the rapid development of the electronic basic materials field drove profits in electronic special material manufacturing and electronic circuit manufacturing up 2.3 times and 49.1% respectively.
As one of the important downstream application terminals of the electronics sector, humanoid robots span multiple fields including advanced manufacturing, new materials, and artificial intelligence. In recent months, what changes have occurred in market demand for humanoid robots? Zhang Qi, director and vice president of Aoyi Technology, told National Business Daily that in recent months, demand for humanoid robot end effectors has been steadily rising overall, with a notable shift in demand structure. In terms of demand volume, customer procurement has gradually moved from scattered small sample orders in the past to batch engineering test orders. Purchases by leading complete machine manufacturers and research institutions have significantly expanded, no longer just buying one or two units for exhibition demonstrations.
"From the perspective of applications, the change is most intuitive. Two years ago, most people purchased dexterous hands for prototype displays; now customers mainly focus on two directions: first, collecting real physical interaction data to train embodied large models and optimize grasping strategies; second, landing engineering verification, conducting flexible operation tests in industrial scenarios, with greater emphasis on stably completing practical tasks and a stronger commercialization orientation," Zhang Qi further stated. "Delivery timelines have also changed accordingly. Early sample deliveries were fast, with customers prioritizing basic functions; now for batch orders, customers have higher requirements for consistency, reliability, and joint debugging testing, which lengthens the initial solution alignment and joint debugging cycle, and production scheduling becomes more rigorous. Simply put, the industry has moved from Demo (prototype) verification into the engineering implementation stage."
"The most obvious change we've felt is that customers are increasingly focused on 'whether it can really do the work,'" Yang Ping, CEO of embodied intelligence complete machine manufacturer Zhongke Huiling, said in an interview with National Business Daily. "In the past, it was more about displays and functional verification; now demands in scenarios such as industrial manufacturing, mining, and scientific research education are becoming more specific, with clearer requirements for stability, efficiency, and delivery cycles. For enterprises, quickly entering the site and continuously completing tasks is becoming a more important competitive advantage."
Data shows that from January to August this year, in high-tech manufacturing, driven by the accelerated construction of computing infrastructure, profits in optical fiber manufacturing and optical cable manufacturing grew 5.3 times and 1.0 times respectively; in high-performance servers, workstations, and optoelectronic communication fields, profits in computer complete machine manufacturing, computer peripheral equipment manufacturing, industrial control computer and system manufacturing, and communication system equipment manufacturing grew 3.9 times, 2.6 times, 1.3 times, and 48.7% respectively; instrument and meter and new medical instrument equipment manufacturing accelerated, with profits in navigation, surveying, meteorology, and marine specialized instrument manufacturing and dental equipment and appliance manufacturing growing 2.2 times and 70.2% respectively.
Why did profits in the navigation, surveying, meteorology, and marine specialized instrument manufacturing industry surge so significantly? The reporter reviewed the 2026 interim reports of listed companies in related fields and found that humanoid robots have become a new growth driver for navigation product business revenue. BDStar, which primarily engages in chips and data services, navigation products, and ceramic components, pointed out in its 2026 interim report that during the reporting period, mainly due to its agency business seizing the explosive opportunities in emerging industries such as humanoid robots, navigation product revenue achieved a year-on-year increase of 52.38%. CHC Navigation stated in its 2026 interim report that the accelerated evolution of AI technology is reshaping the industry competitive landscape, with downstream applications such as autonomous driving, robots, and smart cities placing higher demands on spatiotemporal perception infrastructure. If the company cannot accurately predict technology development trends, timely deploy key core technology research and development, continuously promote product performance upgrades and iterations, or synchronize research and industrialization pace, the company's technology and products may gradually lose market competitiveness, affecting profitability.
Compared with traditional navigation businesses, what different requirements does the humanoid robot market place on navigation products? What is the current supply and demand situation in this track? "Humanoid robots face more complex and dynamic real-world environments, so the requirements for navigation and perception capabilities are higher. In addition to positioning accuracy and real-time performance, attitude changes, dynamic obstacles, multi-sensor fusion, and coordination with motion control must also be considered," Yang Ping told National Business Daily. "As humanoid robots gradually enter practical application scenarios, related demand is continuously growing, but the industry's focus is also gradually shifting from single hardware performance to whether the entire system can operate stably and reliably."
Regarding the subsequent market demand for humanoid robot-related navigation products and the technical requirements that urgently need to be met, Yang Ping stated, "This demand will continue to grow. In the future, the key will be maintaining stable positioning and autonomous obstacle avoidance under complex conditions such as low light, dust, occlusion, and dynamic environments, while further enhancing multi-sensor fusion and system robustness. In the long term, navigation will not be an independent module but will be more deeply integrated into the robot's perception, decision-making, and control loop."
Speaking of recent new progress in the industry's technical paths, Zhang Qi stated that currently, an obvious trend in the industry is the gradual convergence of technical routes. In the early stage, the track was blossoming with diversity, with significant differences among various solutions; after a period of verification, some directions lacking feasibility for implementation have been gradually filtered out, and consensus is becoming increasingly clear. "But convergence does not equal homogenization," Zhang Qi further pointed out. "Each company will return to its own specialized niche track, deepening its own technical advantages. Hardware and algorithms are no longer developed separately but are moving toward joint iteration of embodied large models and hardware bodies, with increasing collaborative joint debugging among complete machine manufacturers, component suppliers, and algorithm teams. Taking Aoyi as an example, we are trying to leverage years of accumulation in neural perception, electromyographic interaction, and tactile force control to connect the interaction chain from human intention to machine execution. Hardware, perception, and control are no longer independent modules but form an integrated system. The industry no longer blindly stacks degrees of freedom or competes on paper parameters in extensive development, but rather seeks balance among performance, reliability, and mass production costs around real interaction scenarios, looking for opportunities for engineering implementation."
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