[Taiwan Chip News] Jenson Huang and Musk Also Enthralled: "Explosive Growth of Humanoid Robots"

Humanoid robots have emerged as the hottest topic among global investors. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA; Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; and Wei Zhejia, Chairman of TSMC, have all emphasized the industry's importance, fueling investment enthusiasm. Following Chairman Wei's remarks, the stock price of Hiwin, a leading Taiwanese robotics company, surged past 900 Taiwan dollars at one point.

According to industry sources on the 11th, to welcome the new year, Junyi Securities held a private seminar titled "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robots and Smart Investment Technology," focusing on the highly heated topic of humanoid robots. Top experts from the industry attended the seminar, providing in-depth analysis and forecasts on AI and robotics industry development trends and investment strategies.

On the morning of the opening day of CES 2025, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, held a global press conference at the Nvidia exhibition hall in the Fontainebleau Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The humanoid robot Unitree G1 is shaking hands with visitors. Photo by Yonhap News.

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Chief Industry Researcher Chen Changlong stated, "Humanoid robots are the most suitable application of AI in the real world," adding, "They represent an important milestone in the robotics industry's evolution from 'dedicated' use in specific fields like factories to 'general-purpose' applications." In manufacturing, many workplaces have relatively stable environments and simple tasks. Therefore, humanoid robots are expected to be widely used initially in smart manufacturing sectors such as automobiles and electronics. Taiwan's Industrial Economics Knowledge Center (IEK) predicts that although humanoid robots are still in the early stages, they will experience explosive growth. The market size for humanoid robots in manufacturing is expected to grow from $23.7 billion (approximately 35 trillion KRW) in 2030 to $107.1 billion (approximately 156 trillion KRW) in 2035, a fourfold increase.

Wang Jianwu, manager of Zhongxin's US Innovation Technology ETF, also said, "Multifunctional robots will not only be utilized across various industries and solve labor shortages but will also naturally integrate into human daily life." Investors can seize related opportunities by investing in major US technology companies. Wang noted, "The current market environment is very similar to the internet revolution period in 1995," adding, "At that time, the Federal Reserve proactively cut interest rates to achieve a soft landing for the economy, and subsequently, the US stock market recorded a cumulative increase of over 500%, sustaining a long-term bull market."

Innovative technologies such as the internet, search engines, smartphones, and AI applications have created significant gaps between US tech stocks and other major markets for about a decade after their emergence. Since the AI boom began in 2022, US tech stocks are still in the early stages of growth with substantial long-term upside potential. Wang highlighted a positive correlation between research and development (R&D) investment and stock performance, citing NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Palo Alto as examples. He said, "These companies have seen significant increases in both stock prices and R&D expenses over the past five years," emphasizing that "selecting companies with high R&D ratios is an important criterion for investors."

Demonstration of AI home companion 'Bolly'. Provided by Samsung Electronics

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Global leading companies are competitively expanding their development and investment in humanoid robots. Big tech firms like Microsoft and OpenAI invested about $675 million (approximately 990 billion KRW) in the robotics company Figure AI in February last year. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and OpenAI are also known to have jointly invested in the robotics startup Physical Intelligence. Earlier this year, OpenAI restructured its in-house robotics software development team to focus on humanoid robot development.

Tesla plans to start selling its humanoid robot "Optimus" next year. Chairman Wei recently mentioned, "A few days ago, I spoke with the world's richest person," who said, "The field to focus on in the future is multifunctional robots, not automobiles." Chinese-language media reported that the person Chairman Wei met was CEO Musk. NVIDIA plans to launch a new small computer for humanoid robots called "Jetson Thor" in the first half of this year. Jensen Huang said, "The moment of ChatGPT for robots is approaching," dedicating most of his keynote speech at CES 2025, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, to automobiles and humanoid robots.

Taiwanese iPhone manufacturer Pegatron has established a robotics division. Pegatron CEO Zheng Guangzhi said, "We have allocated over 100 research personnel to the robotics division," and "are in discussions with two major clients." Chinese companies are also showing active moves. Wang Guangxi, Vice President of Lenovo Group, recently stated in an interview with a media outlet, "We have invested in more than 20 robotics startups and plan to invest in 2 to 3 more," adding, "Chinese manufacturers are rapidly strengthening their competitiveness in the mid-to-low-end market." Samsung Electronics has also officially entered the humanoid robot development competition by acquiring Rainbow Robotics, a robotics specialist company that developed the bipedal robot 'Hubo.' Samsung Electronics established the 'Future Robot Promotion Team' directly under the CEO and made a surprise announcement that it plans to launch the companion robot 'Bolly,' designed for emotional interaction, in the first half of the year at CES 2025.

Taiwan Economic Daily News = Liao Xianlong & Huang Yahui / Translation = Asia Economy

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