China's humanoid robot rental market has seen a dramatic price collapse over the past year.
What was once a niche market with daily rental fees as high as 30,000 yuan has now become a battlefield of price wars, with rates plummeting by over 90% to just 1,000 to 3,000 yuan. This isn't just a simple price drop; it signals a fundamental shift in the industry's structure. The era of scarcity premiums for hardware is over, and a new era defined by platform-based services and operational efficiency has begun.
So, what triggered this drastic change? We can point to three main factors. First is a classic case of supply glut. TrendForce predicted that China's humanoid robot production would surge by up to 94% in 2026. At the same time, the number of businesses related to robot rentals exploded to over 153,000. This flood of supply naturally put immense downward pressure on prices.
Second, large e-commerce and tech giants entered the fray, transforming the market. In late 2025, Jiyuan Robotics launched its 'Qingtianzu' rental platform, and in January 2026, JD.com started its own robot rental service. These platforms standardized rental fees and made them public, effectively setting a new, much lower market price. For instance, JD.com offered a Unitree U1 robot, including an engineer, for just 1,796 yuan per day, creating a clear benchmark that smaller players had to follow.
Third, the market faced operational bottlenecks and lopsided demand. Most of the demand came from short-term events and performances, leaving robots idle during the off-season. Furthermore, the practice of dispatching one engineer with each robot revealed the high underlying costs of logistics, maintenance, and labor, severely squeezing profit margins. This was evident as early as September 2025, when many rental shops in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics market had to close down due to falling profitability.
In conclusion, the collapse of rental prices is a painful but necessary market correction. It is forcing companies to move beyond simply owning hardware and to compete on service, operational excellence, and finding sustainable, year-round applications for their robots, such as in security or logistics.
- Glossary
- Humanoid Robot: A robot with its body shape built to resemble the human body. They are used in various fields, from entertainment to industrial applications.
- Platformization: The shift of business models towards platform-based ecosystems where multiple producers and consumers can connect and transact, often leading to price transparency and standardization.
- Break-Even Point: The point at which total cost and total revenue are equal, meaning there is no net loss or gain. For a rental business, it's the minimum price or utilization rate needed to cover all costs.