Washington is pushing U.S. robotics companies to reduce their dependence on Chinese technology. The industry, however, is discovering that replacing Chinese components is far harder than restricting them.
For American robotics firms, the challenge is no longer simply about where robots are assembled. Motors, actuators, magnets, sensors, batteries, displays and even basic plastic components can trace back to Chinese manufacturing. Building alternatives in the U.S. can take years, cost substantially more and slow the development of products that are already racing toward commercial deployment.
Policy Ambition Meets Manufacturing Reality
The U.S. has introduced tighter restrictions on Chinese technology across robotics, drones and transportation as Washington seeks greater control over critical technology supply chains.
But companies say the transition cannot happen at the speed of policy.
Rajat Bhageria, founder of San Francisco-based Chef Robotics, said the company assembles its food-assembly robot arms in the U.S. but still sources the plastic grippers attached to them from China. Alternative suppliers either could not meet its requirements or were prohibitively expensive.
The example highlights a broader problem: even companies that manufacture robots domestically may remain dependent on Chinese suppliers for relatively basic components.
For micro-display maker Kopin (NASDAQ: KOPN), moving some production out of China took more than two years, according to CEO Michael Murray. He said manufacturing in the U.S. can cost up to 25% more.
The gap is not limited to cost. Manufacturing scale is another barrier. Murray said China can produce in a week what U.S. manufacturers produce in a year for certain components.
Magnets and Actuators Become Critical Bottlenecks
The most difficult dependencies sit deeper in the supply chain.
Motors, actuators, batteries, sensors and magnets are essential to robotics, yet U.S. manufacturers do not currently have comparable capacity across many of these categories.
A McKinsey analysis cited by industry executives found that China holds a significant share of global capacity for robotics components, including about 90% of permanent-magnet processing.
That dependence can survive even when manufacturing moves elsewhere.
Ghost Robotics shifted motor production to South Korea but continues to source neodymium-magnet raw materials from China. Moving the final manufacturing step, therefore, does not necessarily remove exposure to the Chinese supply chain.
The problem is becoming more urgent as U.S. companies attempt to scale humanoid robots.
Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas has said the Austin-based company has faced shortages of actuators and other essential components needed to assemble its humanoid robots.
Replacing China Can Multiply Costs
For startups, the economics of reshoring can be particularly difficult.
Evan Beard, CEO of Standard Bots, told a congressional hearing in April that sourcing from China is generally five to 10 times cheaper than producing hardware in the U.S.
Sayan Mitra, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has estimated that replacing Chinese humanoid robots with U.S.-made equivalents could increase costs for universities by as much as tenfold.
The consequences extend beyond procurement budgets. Switching suppliers can require redesigning hardware, qualifying new components, extending lead times and slowing prototype development. For young robotics companies, that can mean spending more capital before a product reaches the market.
Vertical Integration Offers a Different Route
Some of the industry’s better-funded companies are responding by avoiding the supplier problem altogether.
Figure, 1X, Apptronik and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are pursuing greater vertical integration, including developing their own actuators, expanding battery manufacturing and bringing more assembly capabilities in-house.
The strategy offers greater control over critical components but requires significant investment. It also shifts the challenge from finding alternative suppliers to building manufacturing capabilities from the ground up.
That may ultimately create opportunities for U.S. component manufacturers. But the transition will take time.
The Bigger Challenge Is Building the Ecosystem
The U.S. robotics industry faces a supply-chain problem that cannot be solved simply by banning or restricting Chinese technology.
The country needs competitive domestic capacity across the layers that make a robot possible—from magnets and motors to actuators, sensors, displays and batteries. Until that ecosystem reaches sufficient scale, American robotics companies will have to absorb higher costs, longer lead times and fewer sourcing options.
For an industry moving toward mass deployment, the timing matters. The companies that can secure components, control costs and scale manufacturing may gain as much of an advantage as those with the best robotic software or artificial intelligence.
