A wave of European robotics start-ups is positioning itself to challenge China's commanding lead in humanoid robots, according to reporting carried by The Straits Times, Barron's and other outlets.
The scale of the gap is stark. The Straits Times reports that around 87 per cent of the 13,000 humanoid robots deployed worldwide in 2025 came from China. That leaves European players starting from far behind as they try to carve out a place in a market dominated by well-resourced Chinese heavyweights.
One of the firms named in the coverage is Enchanted Tools. The company said its first mass-produced robots could arrive by the end of the year, and that at least 60 per cent of each machine would be made in Europe — a nod to the continent's interest in building its own manufacturing base rather than depending on imports.
The framing across the reports is consistent: a cluster of smaller, newer European companies are going up against established Chinese manufacturers that already account for the overwhelming majority of humanoids in the field. The reporting does not detail the full roster of European entrants or their funding, but the through-line is an emerging contest over who will build the next generation of working robots.
Why it matters: humanoid robots are shaping up to be one of the defining technologies of the coming years, and whoever manufactures them at scale stands to gain economic and strategic leverage — so Europe's bid to avoid ceding that ground entirely to China is a fight worth watching.