- Shanghai’s Pudong New Area is home to more than 150 embodied-AI companies and over 30 humanoid robot products
- Industrial AI output rose 42% as robots moved into automotive factories and logistics operations
Shanghai’s Pudong New Area recorded 109.6 billion yuan ($16.38 billion) in AI industry output in the first half of 2026, up 17.8% from a year earlier, as rapid growth in industrial AI helped drive the district’s push to build a large embodied-intelligence cluster.
The figures were disclosed at a briefing for the 2026 Global Developer Pioneers Summit and International Embodied Intelligence Competition, to be held on October 23-25.
Pudong is now home to nearly 1,800 AI companies, including more than 150 focused on embodied intelligence, with over 30 humanoid robot products under development. Notable firms include Fourier (傅利叶), AgiBot (智元机器人) and Kepler Exploration Robot (开普勒机器人).
The district has also built up local supply capabilities spanning chips, perception, control systems, robot bodies and application scenarios.
Robots move onto factory floors
Industrial AI output grew 42% in the first half, significantly outpacing the broader sector.
The figures reflect a distinction between the value of industrial goods produced and the revenue generated across the wider AI industry, making the two growth rates not directly comparable.
Several humanoid robots have begun working in manufacturing settings. AgiBot robots have been deployed on a battery production line at SAIC-GM’s Ultium Cells super factory, while Kepler’s K2 humanoid robots have entered an SAIC-GM logistics facility.
Robots from the National and Local Co-Built Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center have also begun operations at an automotive interior-parts factory in Kangqiao, Pudong.
These deployments offer a glimpse of how embodied AI could move beyond demonstrations into industrial tasks, where reliability, operating costs and measurable productivity gains will determine whether adoption can expand.
A 100-billion-yuan ambition
Pudong named embodied intelligence one of 10 strategic industrial clusters in its 15th Five-Year Plan development blueprint, released in January 2026, setting a target of building a 100-billion-yuan-scale industry.
The district’s reported AI industry output has already exceeded that benchmark, although the figure covers the broader AI sector rather than embodied intelligence alone.
If the first-half growth rate continues, full-year AI industry output could surpass 200 billion yuan.
The next challenge is turning Pudong’s concentration of companies and locally supplied technologies into a larger base of commercially viable robot deployments.
Header image credit: Kepler Exploration Robot official WeChat
