The race to get in on the humanoid robot boom is heating up.
In a research note released earlier this month, analysts at Morgan Stanley broke down a list of the 25 companies best positioned to dominate the market for humanoid robots, which the investment bank estimates will be worth more than $5 trillion by 2050.
The list focuses on companies with expertise in AI and computing chips, cameras and perception, and sensors and movement technology, the analysts said.
They added that the list is intended to help investors look beyond humanoid robot manufacturers and focus on the foundational component suppliers who stand to benefit as robots become mainstream.
Morgan Stanley is not the only one making ambitious predictions about the potential for a robot boom. Elon Musk said last month he thinks Tesla’s Optimus robot will be able to “eliminate poverty” and grow the global economy by a factor of 10.
Tesla is set to begin mass production of Optimus by the end of next year, but has not said how many it expects to build.
Other companies are also racing to build their own bipedal bots, including Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng, which unveiled its creepily lifelike “Iron” robot last month.
However, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that while they estimated that more than a billion humanoid robots would be deployed worldwide by 2050, adoption of humanoid robots would be “relatively slow” until at least 2035 as the technology continues to develop.
It comes after China issued a warning last week that a bubble risked forming in its own robotics industry, with more than 150 companies competing to roll out humanoid robots.
Industry heavyweights like Nvidia, Samsung, and AMD all feature in Morgan Stanley’s “Humanoid Tech 25” list. The list also includes lesser-known names such as Hesai, a Chinese lidar maker that analysts said stands to benefit as its sensors could be used to help humanoid robots improve their navigation and situational awareness.
Morgan Stanley analysts also highlighted California-based semiconductor design firm Synopsys as another potential winner, noting that its semiconductor designs had applications in humanoid robot brains. Nvidia announced on December 1 that it would make a $2 billion investment in Synopsys.
Here’s Morgan Stanley’s list of the 25 companies at the forefront of the humanoid robot boom:
BaiduiFlytekDesayHorizon RoboticsAlibabaSamsung ElectronicsNVIDIACadenceSynopsysARMAMDTexas InstrumentsSamsung Electro-MechanicsOnsemiMicrochipSonyAmbarellaNXPROHM SemiconductorMelexisSTMicroelectronicsInfineonRenesasJoysonHesai
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