Humanoid Robots: Which Stocks Are Leading the Way?

ARK Invest’s ‘Big Ideas’ report for 2026 is extremely bullish on robotics, which it includes among a constellation of 13 big ideas that are transforming markets and redefining everyday life.

Automation is “likely” to create a $26trn opportunity, the report argues. However, unlocking this value will depend on a “shift from fixed-task specialized equipment to relatively open-ended general-purpose platforms”. 

“Robot density today is a fraction of where generalizable robots could take it,” it adds, anticipating that, if artificial intelligence (AI) and hardware advances continue growing, Tesla’s [TSLA] Optimus robot could reach human-level task performance, becoming a general-purpose platform, by 2028.

Welcome to the future, everyone! 

Or not. As Cathie Wood recently underlined in an interview with CNBC, Optimus will be 200,000 times more difficult to develop than a robotaxi.

Let’s look at some of the companies that are closest to unleashing humanoid robots on the world, starting with ARK’s darling, Tesla.

Tesla: Cause for Optimism?

In the first week of February Elon Musk predicted on X that “Optimus will be the first Von Neumann machine, capable of building civilization by itself on any viable planet.”

However, it seems that some of Musk’s pronouncements on the theme are closer to science fiction than the current reality. 

Tesla plans to unveil Optimus version 3 in Q1, with the update expected to demonstrate a clear step-change in capability, particularly in smoother, more human-like motion.

Production of Optimus is slated to begin later in 2026. To accommodate this, Tesla recently announced it is winding down Model S and Model X output and reallocating those manufacturing lines to the robot, a move that could ultimately support annual production of up to 1 million units.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Musk said that the robot would be available for purchase by the end of 2027.

While a number of groups are racing to develop humanoid robots, Tesla stands apart on scale. 

Its manufacturing footprint and AI training infrastructure give it a structural edge, reinforced by access to vast volumes of real-world video data from its global vehicle fleet. That data allows Optimus to learn contextual judgement and fine-grained decision-making in ways most rivals cannot match.

However, it faces several key roadblocks, the principal one being related to supply chains.

The bulk of Optimus’s hardware is produced in China, creating what suppliers describe as an “Optimus chain” that mirrors Apple’s iPhone ecosystem in the country. Critical components — including actuators that drive joint movement, motors, reducers and vision systems — are all predominantly manufactured there.

In a January research note, Morgan Stanley estimated that removing Chinese suppliers from the Optimus Gen 2 supply chain would lift the bill of materials to around $131,000, up from roughly $46,000.

Further to this, Morgan Stanley projected that humanoid robot components alone could represent a $780bn revenue opportunity by 2040, with suppliers positioned to capture the earliest and most direct gains as the industry scales.

The fact that so much of the humanoid supply chain is located in China no doubt explains why the majority of the 13,000 units shipped globally in 2025 came from the country, according to a report from research firm Omdia.

It may also be why, while Tesla has advanced the farthest along the road toward a general-purpose robot, many other stocks that are making major waves in the space are China-based.

UBTech: Sky’s the Limit

One such is UBTech Robotics [UBTRF].

Shares in UBTech surged in January after the China-based humanoid robot developer announced a new order from Airbus SE [EADSY], strengthening the case for wider adoption of its technology in large-scale, international manufacturing.

UBTech said Airbus has purchased its Walker S2 humanoid robots for deployment at the aircraft maker’s production facilities, though financial terms were not disclosed.

Beyond the initial order, the two groups plan to jointly assess additional uses for humanoid robots across aviation manufacturing, Bloomberg reported. 

Walker S2 can autonomously hot-swap its own batteries — a capability UBTech claimed as an industry first in November 2025 — reducing downtime in factory settings. The robot can also rotate its waist nearly 180 degrees, allowing it to handle parts or switch tasks without repositioning its base.

UBTech is aiming to produce 5,000 industrial humanoids this year, rising to 10,000 by 2027. By November 2025, the company said it had already booked $112m in humanoid sales, implying an average unit price of roughly $112,000, Forbes calculated. 

The Airbus agreement follows a deal struck in 2025 with Texas Instruments [TXN] to deploy robots in semiconductor fabrication. 

Hexagon: Microsoft Partnership

In Europe, meanwhile, it seems that the sector has yet to develop quite the sense of urgency that animates US and Chinese robotics stocks and startups.

That said, a number of firms are making inroads into the space. 

Hexagon AB [HXGBY] unveiled its first humanoid robot, AEON, in June 2025, positioning it as a practical solution to labor shortages. Designed with real-world applications in mind, AEON combines Hexagon’s sensor suite with advanced locomotion, AI mission control and spatial intelligence, the company said, enabling versatile industrial tasks such as manipulation, asset inspection, reality capture and operator support.

Then, in January 2026, Hexagon Robotics partnered with Microsoft [MSFT] to accelerate humanoid development. The collaboration will integrate Azure-based robotics systems with data-driven workflows, imitation and reinforcement learning, and multimodal vision-language-action models. 

Leveraging Hexagon’s robotics and spatial intelligence expertise alongside Microsoft’s cloud and scalable platforms, the partnership aims to deliver production-ready humanoids for the automotive, aerospace, manufacturing and logistics sectors. No timelines were provided. 

Boston Dynamics: AI Integration is Key 

A final company to keep an eye on is Boston Dynamics, a startup that feels like it is practically a division of majority owner Hyundai [HYMLF] at this stage. 

The firm stole the show at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where it confirmed the final enterprise version of its Atlas robot is being built, with initial deployments planned for Hyundai.

Atlas is designed for reliability and consistency across industrial tasks. It can operate autonomously, under teleoperation or via a tablet interface. The robot combines strength and durability, with a 7.5‑foot reach and the ability to lift 110 pounds and operate across temperatures from -4°F to 104°F.

Also at CES, Boston Dynamics announced an AI partnership with Alphabet’s [GOOGL] Google DeepMind. The joint research project will begin in coming months.

“We developed our Gemini Robotics models to bring AI into the physical world,” said Carolina Parada, Senior Director of Robotics at DeepMind.

“We are building the world’s most capable humanoid, and we knew we needed a partner that could help us establish new kinds of visual-language-action models for these complex robots,” added Alberto Rodriguez, Director of Robot Behavior for Atlas.

Conclusion

The Boston Dynamics/Deep Mind partnership is an excellent example of what ARK describes in its Big Ideas report as “technological convergence”: “Five major innovation platforms — AI, public blockchains, robotics, energy storage and multiomics — are becoming increasingly interdependent as performance advances in one platform unlock new capabilities in another.”

Investors interested in a piece of the robotics pie may do well to keep an eye out for such convergences. Generalizable robots might be here sooner than even Cathie Wood anticipates.