1X, Unitree and the Humanoid Developer-Market Gap

1X is expanding developer access to NEO, whose Early Access programme costs $20,000. First U.S. deliveries are planned for 2026, with a $499 monthly subscription expected later.

1X says it is prioritising current production for its internal team’s development and home testing. It plans to increase annual production capacity from an initial 10,000 units to more than 100,000 by the end of 2027.

Unitree reportedly shipped more than 5,500 humanoids in 2025. Its STAR Market materials show research and education accounted for 73.6% of humanoid revenue in the first three quarters, with industrial applications at about 9%. Its G1 is commercially available to labs, developers and other buyers.

Western humanoid suppliers have largely kept their hardware in internal development, controlled pilots and customer-specific trials, limiting access for independent developers and researchers.

Source: 1X

U.S. lawmakers are increasingly treating Chinese humanoid robots as a national-security and industrial-base issue, alongside concerns about dependence on Chinese commercial drones.

Restricting access to Chinese humanoid platforms before Western alternatives are available would reduce developers’ hardware options. Many Western robotics companies also depend on China-linked manufacturing, components or suppliers.

At its NEO Factory in Hayward, California, 1X says it designs and manufactures critical NEO components in-house, including motors, batteries, structures, transmission systems, soft goods and sensors. It describes the facility as a vertically integrated high-volume humanoid factory, with internal manufacturing lines, factory software, reliability testing, motor production, battery-pack production, hand assembly and new-product-introduction lines.

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