After the big models, the focus of competition in the global technology landscape is accelerating to “embodied intelligence”. In the United States, not only Tesla leads the R&D of humanoid robots, but also Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and other technology giants have bet on embodied intelligence, trying to seize the strategic high ground of the next generation of general artificial intelligence through the combination of software and hardware.
At the same time, China’s Internet giants are also accelerating their entry. JD.COM officially entered the embodied intelligence, Alibaba invested in start-ups on multiple lines, Tencent Robotics X focused on robot technology research and development, and Baidu embedded the big model capabilities into the humanoid robot ecosystem. JD.COM, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and other “traditional giants” are collectively rushing towards a new track – humanoid robots.
In this comprehensive game across algorithms, hardware, data and scenarios, the competition between China and the United States in the embodied intelligence industry is entering a critical stage of “grabbing people”, “grabbing chips” and “grabbing scenarios”. The intensive entry of Chinese Internet giants may be the most imaginative variable in this game.
Figure: Some Chinese Internet companies’ layout of humanoid robots/embodied intelligent robots (organized based on public information on the Internet, please make a correction if there are any incomplete points)
JD.COM: Build a closed loop of “warehouse to home” and create an embodied intelligent full-link ecosystem
In 2025, JD.COM’s layout in the field of embodied intelligence and humanoid robots gradually emerged. From logistics automation to home services, JD.COM is trying to build an integrated embodied intelligent ecosystem of “hardware + software + service”.
According to industrial and commercial information, JD Technology Information Technology Co., Ltd. acquired a stake in Shanghai Zhiyuan New Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. (AgiBot) on May 22. This is JD.COM’s first external investment in a humanoid robot company, showing its intention to accelerate its investment in this field. It is reported that this is part of AgiBot’s Series B financing. In addition to JD Technology Group, Shanghai Embodied Zhichuang Fund, SAIC’s Sunshare Capital, TCL and other old shareholders also participated in this investment.
Source: Zhiyuan “Lingxi X2” robot
In addition to capital layout, JD.COM has been advancing simultaneously at the organizational structure and technology research and development levels. JD.COM officially confirmed the establishment of an embodied intelligence business department in March, focusing on home scenarios. According to media reports, JD.COM has invested more than 1 billion yuan in the research and development of home service robots. The first product focuses on cleaning and accompanying functions and is expected to be mass-produced in 2026.
This year, JD Explore Academy also announced that the team had developed a highly scalable embodied intelligent system architecture, including high-frequency teleoperation technology for dual-arm dexterous hands, generalized operation methods, and the first domestic dual-arm robot operation data set JD ManiData.
In addition, JD.COM is also actively expanding its industrial chain cooperation. It has signed strategic agreements with robot companies such as STEP and Efort to carry out technical cooperation around intelligent logistics equipment, unmanned warehouse systems and industrial robot production, respectively, to accelerate the implementation of embodied intelligent technology in actual scenarios.
Ant Group: Trinity efforts to deepen family and medical scenarios
Ant Group is entering the embodied intelligence track with the trinity path of “technology research and development + scenario exploration + investment and mergers and acquisitions”, trying to seize the initiative in high-value service scenarios such as family, medical care, and elderly care.
In December 2024, Ant Group officially registered Shanghai Ant Lingbo Technology Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 100 million yuan, marking its substantial steps in the field of embodied intelligence and robotics. According to public information, Ant Lingbo will serve as the core platform for the group to expand its robotics business, focusing on the research and development and sales of intelligent robot products for high-interaction scenarios such as family, elderly care, and medical health.
Entering 2025, Ant Lingbo quickly started the technical talent reserve. Since February, the company has simultaneously opened multiple positions covering embedded development, robot algorithms, structural design, simulation systems, etc. on multiple recruitment platforms. In terms of research and development, Ant Group will focus on key capabilities such as speech recognition, image processing, and motion planning required by robots, and enhance the ability of robots to perform complex tasks through the combination of software and hardware and the empowerment of large models.
In addition to internal research and development, Ant is also laying out the embodied intelligence industry chain through investment. In 2024, Ant participated in the Pre-A round of financing of SoHoBlink, an embodied intelligent robot company, which focuses on the application of robots in medical, education, family and other scenarios. In 2025, Ant Group also participated in a new round of financing for Shenzhen humanoid robot company Astribot.
It is worth noting that Ant Group has accumulated a deep technical foundation in the field of AI big models in recent years. Its “Zhenyi” and “Bailing” multimodal big models have been put into practical application in the fields of finance, medical care and other fields. It has the ability to process multimodal data such as voice, images, and text, and can provide cognitive and decision-making support for embodied intelligent systems. At the same time, it can greatly reduce the cost of robot training through synthetic data, and build a technical closed loop that integrates AI and physical intelligence.
Alibaba: Taking cloud as the core foundation, promoting the synergy of embodied intelligence ecology
Alibaba is gradually building its strategic map in the field of embodied intelligence and humanoid robots through three paths: computing power infrastructure construction, core technology participation and industrial investment.
The first is the investment in computing power infrastructure to lay the foundation for embodied intelligence. In February 2025, Wu Yongming, CEO of Alibaba Group, announced that more than 380 billion yuan would be invested in cloud computing and AI hardware infrastructure construction in the next three years, covering core scenarios such as big model training, smart cities, and autonomous driving. Among them, aliyun.com, as a core carrier platform, is also clearly used to support the development of humanoid robots and embodied intelligent applications, providing the computing power required for training and reasoning.
Secondly, Alibaba actively participates in the construction of the embodied intelligent technology ecosystem. In 2023, Dr. Chen Junbo, former head of the Robotics Laboratory of the DAMO Academy, founded UDEER.AI and launched the embodied intelligent large model LPLM-10B in cooperation with aliyun.com’s “Qwen”. In 2024, UDEER.AI completed more than 100 million yuan in financing, and Alibaba continued to participate in support.
In 2024, Hangzhou Haoyue, an Alibaba investment platform, strategically invested in Shenzhen LimX Dynamics, a company focusing on the research and development of general humanoid robots and bipedal robots. It is reported that Hangzhou Haoyue holds 18.78% of the company’s shares, becoming the largest shareholder besides the founding team.
In addition, Alibaba also participated in the investment in embodied intelligent robot company Yuanluo Technology and emerging robot company ROBOTERA, continuing to expand its layout in the embodied intelligent industry chain.
Tencent: Self-developed products and open platforms go hand in hand, and the layout of embodied intelligence is accelerating
Tencent is accelerating its layout in the field of embodied intelligence and humanoid robots, focusing on three major directions: self-developed products, technology platform construction, and industrial ecosystem cooperation.
At the product level, Tencent Robotics X Lab has been continuously developing robots since 2018, and has launched four generations of products so far. Early models covered balanced wheeled and wheel-legged structures, gradually introducing tactile perception and multimodal motion capabilities. The latest generation of robot “The Five” released in 2024 integrates wheel-legged structures and dexterous hands, and has the ability to complete tasks such as walking, grasping, and carrying in real human living environments, facing health care and family service scenarios.
Source: Tencent robot “The Five”
In terms of platform capabilities, Tencent has built a complete service system covering data, algorithms, simulation, and communication. cloud.tencent.com has deployed more than 20EFLOPS computing power to support the full process development of robots from training to reasoning. Self-developed products TweCall and TweSee integrate audio and video, large models and communication capabilities to provide technical support for remote control and perception interaction of robots. It is expected that in the second half of 2025, Tencent will release a robot cloud platform and gradually open up key capabilities such as training and simulation platforms to the open source community.
In terms of ecological cooperation and investment, Tencent is working with multiple parties in the industry chain to promote the implementation of embodied intelligence. It has cooperated with companies such as AgiBot, Dobot, Weilan, and Kepler to achieve a number of breakthroughs in robot control and interaction scenarios. In May this year, cloud.tencent.com and Dobot reached a cooperation to introduce the “cloud-edge-end” architecture into industrial handling robots, giving them obstacle avoidance and adaptive grasping capabilities.
In addition, in March 2025, Tencent invested in a humanoid robot company for the first time, leading the B round of financing for AgiBot. This move is seen as an important signal that it has officially entered the capital layout of the embodied intelligence industry.
Meituan: Strong bet on robot companies to promote the implementation of service scenarios
Compared with other technology companies that prefer platforms and computing power, Meituan’s layout in the field of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence presents a systematic approach of “technology investment + strategic holding + scene co-creation”.
As early as 2022, Meituan established the Robotics Research Institute, which is fully responsible for the company’s research and development and strategy in the direction of robots.
In the field of humanoid robots, Meituan has successively invested in two industry newcomers, Unitree and GALBOT, and has become its main external capital party. In addition, Meituan also invested in embodied intelligent brain developer X Square Robot in May this year.
According to public information, Meituan’s Hanhai Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is currently the largest external shareholder of Unitree, with a shareholding ratio of approximately 8%. For GALBOT, Meituan has also become its largest external shareholder. The two parties have also signed a strategic cooperation agreement and jointly launched the world’s first humanoid robot smart pharmacy solution, applying humanoid robot technology to offline retail and pharmaceutical services.
Source: GALBOT
In addition, the cooperation between Meituan and GALBOT is not limited to the pharmaceutical field. It also plans to carry out in-depth integration in multiple service scenarios such as smart warehouses, offline retail, and urban logistics, and promote robot technology to truly enter the front line of commercial operations. This complements Meituan’s strong operational genes in instant retail and delivery scenarios, providing a natural soil for the scenario-based landing of embodied intelligence.
Overall, Meituan is accelerating the construction of its robot capability matrix in future smart services and automated operations, trying to take the initiative in the embodied intelligence track.
Baidu: Build a technical foundation and create an embodied intelligence ecological solution
Baidu is accelerating its strategic layout in the field of embodied intelligence and humanoid robots through cloud computing, investment and ecological cooperation.
In terms of technical support, cloud.baidu.com continues to build the infrastructure capabilities of embodied intelligence. Relying on AI Infra, Kunlunxin, Wenxin large models, cloud simulation platforms, human-computer interaction systems and data collection and annotation services, Baidu has formed a complete technical foundation of software and hardware integration and cloud collaboration, providing robot companies with full-process support from computing power, algorithms to data.
In February 2025, cloud.baidu.com and AgiBot reached a strategic cooperation. The two parties will carry out in-depth cooperation around the construction of embodied intelligence ecological solutions, key technology research and development, and platform co-construction, focusing on the education and scientific research market in the first phase. The cooperation includes deeply integrating Baidu’s “visual big model + edge computing” solution with Zhiyuan’s “Expedition” data acquisition robot, “Lingxi” open source platform and “AIDEA” data acquisition solution, jointly creating a humanoid robot platform that supports secondary development, and promoting technology implementation and product openness.
As early as 2024, UBTECH‘s humanoid robot Walker S has been connected to cloud.baidu.com’s Qianfan AppBuilder platform, and based on the Wenxin big model, it has acquired the ability to understand intentions and plan tasks, and can complete complex operations such as folding clothes and sorting objects.
At the capital level, BV Baidu Ventures has continuously invested in the embodied intelligent robot startup Vita Dynamics, participating in its seed round and seed + round financing respectively, with a cumulative amount of nearly 100 million yuan. In April 2023, BV also participated in AgiBot‘s A+ round of financing, but did not disclose the amount of financing.
Overall, Baidu is focusing on “cloud + model + chip”, linking investment and industrial ecology, building a supporting platform role, entering the embodied intelligent application market through education and scientific research, and laying the foundation for humanoid robots to move from technology research and development to widespread application.
Note:
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