Humanoid supply chain report: who supplies robot hands, chips, actuators and batteries?

Summary

• Where things stand: Of 105 humanoid parts supply records, 38 are official, 38 reported and 29 rumors. By supplier country, China has 49, Korea 28 and the US 18.
• Analysis: Chips have the most official confirmations (12 of 17), and actuators are confirmed through long-term contracts tied to large customers. The Tesla Optimus supply chain, on the other hand, has no official confirmation in any of its 21 records.
• Conclusion: The humanoid supply chain is still at a stage with more "named candidates" than "confirmed contracts", and a parts maker's real share should be judged by whether it has a long-term contract with a customer.

1. Where things stand: what parts go into a humanoid?

A humanoid breaks down into five main blocks: the actuators that move the joints (modules combining motor, reducer, screw and controller), the robot hands that grasp objects, the vision sensors that see the surroundings (cameras and lidar), the AI chips that make decisions, and the battery. Wingchiki's supply chain page records "which company supplies which part to which robot maker" only as far as public sources confirm it.

• Supplier country: China 49, Korea 28, US 18, Germany and Japan 3 each, Switzerland 2
• Customers: Tesla 21, Unitree 12, Boston Dynamics 12, AgiBot 5, Galbot and Figure 4 each
• Certainty: official 38, reported 38, rumor 29

2. Analysis

2-1. AI chips are the most clearly confirmed layer

12 of 17 chip records are official company announcements. When NVIDIA launched its robot computer Jetson Thor on 25 August 2025, it named Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Figure and others as early adopters, and 1X, Physical Intelligence and others as evaluating it (NVIDIA release, checked 2026-11-08). Wingchiki's data has since recorded Jetson Thor officially in 1X NEO, Booster Robotics, Humanoid (UK) and others. Qualcomm also announced partnerships with Booster Robotics and Neura Robotics around CES 2026.

Chips seem the most transparent because chip companies use customer names in their marketing. For parts with sensitive price negotiations, such as actuators and screws, customer names are often kept hidden (this is our reading of how disclosure works).

2-2. China's Inspire Robots is widely spread in robot hands

11 of 15 hand records have a Chinese supplier, and 10 of those are Inspire Robots (因时机器人). Its official partner list includes AgiBot, Agility, Galbot, Neura Robotics, UBTech, Unitree, Xiaomi and the Beijing and Shanghai humanoid innovation centers. Because it is a partner list and does not say which products were bought or how many, Wingchiki grades these as Reported. An Inspire hand made for the Unitree H2 is sold separately by overseas resellers.

Research hands have official cases. Wonik Robotics agreed with Meta FAIR in October 2024 to co-develop a tactile hand, and UK-based Shadow Robot unveiled DEX-EE, a research hand built with Google DeepMind.

2-3. Actuators are confirmed through long-term contracts tied to large customers

7 of the 12 actuator records have a Korean supplier. The confirmed contracts come tied to large customers.

• Hyundai Mobis and Boston Dynamics: At CES 2026, Hyundai Mobis announced it will supply joint actuators from the start of Atlas production (Smart Today). Both companies belong to Hyundai Motor Group.
• Schaeffler and Humanoid (UK): On 13 May 2026, Schaeffler signed a 5-year contract to supply more than 50% of Humanoid's joint actuator demand for its wheeled platform until 2031. At the same time it agreed to bring thousands of Humanoid robots into its own factories by 2032. The supplier is also the customer (Humanoid release, checked 2026-11-08).
• Samhyun and an undisclosed customer: On 21 September 2026, Samhyun announced it would supply actuators to an unnamed overseas humanoid customer in North America from December.

2-4. The Tesla Optimus supply chain is almost entirely rumor

Tesla is the customer in the most records, 21, but 18 are rumors, 3 are reported and none is officially confirmed.

• 3 reported: planetary roller screws from Switzerland's GSA (Rollvis), reducers from Japan's Harmonic Drive Systems and cylindrical battery cells from LG Energy Solution. All come from media reports and have not been confirmed by Tesla or the suppliers.
• 18 rumors: China's Sanhua Intelligent Controls and Tuopu Group (actuators), Leaderdrive (reducers), Xinjian Transmission, Wuzhou Xinchun and Zhejiang Rongtai (screws), Korea's HL Mando and ROBOTIS (actuators), LG Innotek and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (cameras), and others. Some companies have denied the reports directly or declined to comment, saying they are "at an early research stage" or that "nothing has been decided".

Tesla does not disclose its Optimus parts suppliers. So most headlines about "Optimus suppliers" rely on brokerage reports or industry talk.

2-5. Korean names come up often in batteries and vision

6 of 7 battery records involve Korean companies. LG Energy Solution is named for Boston Dynamics (supplying since early development, reported), Tesla (reported) and LG Electronics' CLOiD (reported), and also for Figure and Unitree (rumor). Unitree's main battery supplier, the company has officially disclosed, is a subsidiary of China's Azure Lithium.

The 19 vision records are split China 11, Korea 6. Chinese lidar makers Hesai and RoboSense have officially named Unitree, Galbot, AgiBot and others as customers in their results. LG Innotek's camera module supply to Boston Dynamics and Figure has been reported, but reports on the Figure case differ between "contract signed" and "in talks".

3. Conclusion: Wingchiki's view

The following is Wingchiki's opinion based on the data above.

1. The supply chain is still at the "candidate" stage. Only 38 of 105 records are officially confirmed, and Tesla Optimus, the most watched, has none. For any article about "a supplier to X", check the confidence level first.
2. A parts maker's real share should be judged by long-term contracts. The most reliable signal is a multi-year contract with a customer that even states a share of volume, as with Hyundai Mobis and Schaeffler. Partner lists and industry talk come after that.
3. Deals that tie "parts supply + robot adoption" together are likely to grow. Schaeffler supplies actuators and brings the same robots into its own plants, and Hyundai Mobis supplies parts for its own group's Atlas. Tying demand and supply into one contract is being used to reduce uncertainty in an early market.

4. Indicators to watch

• The first Tesla Optimus part whose supplier is officially confirmed
• Whether contracts that tie supply and adoption together, like Schaeffler and Humanoid, spread to other parts makers
• Whether hand and sensor supply relations at the partner-list level turn into contracts with disclosed volumes

Data basis and sources: 105 records from Wingchiki's parts supply data as of 2026-11-08. Records are graded Official (supplier or customer announcement, filings), Reported (media reports) and Rumor (industry talk, brokerage estimates, articles of unclear origin). Supplier country follows the headquarters. The NVIDIA Jetson Thor announcement and the Schaeffler–Humanoid contract were rechecked against the originals on 2026-11-08. Sources for the other records are on the supply chain page. Stock prices and related stocks are not covered.