Morgan Stanley's latest survey indicates that while Chinese enterprises show high willingness to procure humanoid robots, stricter demands on cost and return on investment (ROI) are slowing down commercialization.

Morgan Stanley's AlphaWise platform conducted its annual survey in September 2026, polling 94 executives from China's manufacturing, industrial, and service sectors. The results show that 64% of respondents plan to initiate humanoid robot projects within the next three years, but the expected deployment timeline for various robots has generally shifted back by approximately one year. 72% of potential buyers believe that a unit price below RMB 100,000 is necessary for widespread adoption (up from 53% in 2025), and 82% require a payback period of no more than three years, with an average acceptable payback period of approximately 26 months. Morgan Stanley projects China's humanoid robot shipments to be around 50,000 units in 2026 and 100,000 units in 2027, potentially reaching 446,000 units by 2030.