Are Robot Companies Starting to Go Bankrupt in Bulk? Over 20 Companies File for Insolvency

Another industry bubble has burst, and a large number of robot companies are lining up to collapse.

Embodied intelligence enterprise Endless Future Power, which once held 1 billion in orders, was exposed for its actual controller being unreachable and employees' wages being suspended; Galaxy Robot, backed by a leading internet platform and with over 600 million in financing, has entered bankruptcy proceedings.

DeepBlue Robot, which high-profilely acquired a 500-acre plot in Shunde six years ago and claimed a total investment of 10,000,000,000 yuan, is having its equipment bundled and auctioned by the court, and more than 100 employees are owed 23,000,000 in wages.

Dalta Robot, which was once valued at 22 billion, was exposed for having an empty office with no people; Zhuhai state-owned assets alone have claimed nearly 300,000,000 in damages; additionally, Zhicheng Power, which received heavy investment from Li Zexiang and Ecovacs, has been placed on the blacklist of dishonest entities.

According to industry media statistics, more than 20 robot companies have gone bankrupt since then, and the humanoid complete machine track is a heavy disaster area. These once glorious unicorns are now collapsing collectively; looking closely, they mainly fell into three fatal death traps.

Many robots that look powerful are essentially canned demonstrations. The programs are written in advance, and the actions follow a script; they cannot be considered true AI.

The true standard should be the ability to handle unseen unexpected situations. Data does not lie; Sullivan's report shows that in the first half of the year, 36,000 units were sold globally, but only 1,200 were actually used for production tasks, accounting for only 3.3%. A large number of robots did not enter factories to tighten screws or fold clothes, but were instead performing somersaults on stage or serving as welcoming mascots.

But factory owners' account books are very simple: if it is more cost-effective than manual labor and can run continuously 24 hours a day, then many enterprises raised money, but ultimately collapsed on real orders.

Galaxy Robot's annual revenue was 4,330,000 yuan, but the loss was as high as 67,000,000; Dedal Robotics' valuation is 20,000,000,000, yet its annual income cannot buy a single apartment in a first-tier city. The “greatness” of many robot companies is essentially canned demonstrations; real orders are the hard indicators for survival.

Robots themselves are a heavy-asset track; every item—research and development, prototypes, delivery, and operation and maintenance—burns money. These collapsed companies almost all fell into the same pit: taking steps that were too large.