Independent technology continues to advance, with applications flourishing across the board—Shenzhen’s artificial intelligence and robotics industry is building an all-domain layout that is gathering momentum as industry clusters take shape.

Original Title: Continuous Improvement of Independent Technologies, Blooming Application Scenarios Everywhere — Shenzhen’s AI and Robotics Industry Fully Laid Out Across the Whole Area to Form a Cluster into a Trend

【Taking Action to Cultivate New Quality Productive Forces】

◎Reporter Luo Yunpeng

“On the streets or in shopping malls in Shenzhen, you sometimes run into robots that are on patrol for inspection, helping guide people, or making coffee, etc. This shows that robots in this city have plenty of validated scenarios, and can iterate and grow more effectively. ” Recently, at the 2026 Shenzhen “Spring Breeze Action” and the “Nanyue Spring Warm” modern service industry themed job fair, Jiangsu student Pan Pan said, “Shenzhen has a strong culture of engineers, and that is also the reason I came to Shenzhen specifically to apply for jobs.”

From “partners” in the public service sector, to “multi-skilled hands” in factories, and then to the “new workers” around us—now Shenzhen’s AI and robotics industry, with a full-area layout, has formed a cluster and is gaining momentum. Relevant data shows that in 2025, Shenzhen’s added value from strategic emerging industries reached 1.67 trillion yuan, with its share of GDP rising to 43%. Among them, revenue from the core industries of artificial intelligence and robotics was nearly 270 billion yuan.

At the start of the Spring Festival season, good news has been coming one after another from Shenzhen Nanshan’s “Robot Valley,” with a series of landmark breakthroughs in embodied intelligence and humanoid robots. On February 23, Zhihui Square (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of its Series B financing round, with a financing amount exceeding 1 billion yuan. The company’s valuation surpassed the 10 billion yuan mark, becoming Shenzhen’s first “unicorn” intelligent-robot enterprise at the 100-billion-yuan level. “In 2025, we launched the world’s first all-domain full-body generative model, achieving leapfrogging breakthroughs—from fixed desktop use to open environments, from single-arm operation to full-body coordination, and from simple tasks to long-range reasoning,” said Ge Zhenwei, head of the company’s brand business. “With this capability, robots can be promoted and rolled out faster.”

2026 is the year when humanoid robots move from concept to large-scale commercial deployment—an all-out year of breakthroughs. As one of Guangdong’s “Seven Swordsmen” of robotics, Shenzhen Yuejiang Technology Co., Ltd. took the lead in breaking the deadlock. Its self-developed Atom humanoid robot officially started working at Shenzhen cinemas, turning into a popcorn shop attendant. It can work continuously and stably for 14 hours, and can produce, prepare, and sell more than 1,000 cups of popcorn per day on average.

“We have overcome the coordinated challenges of eyes, brains, and hands in humanoid robots. Our self-developed Dobot-VLA (Vision—Language—Action) end-to-end model enables robots to truly understand and see dynamic environments.” said Li Jiaxian, the company’s senior marketing manager. Moving from passive execution to proactive adaptation, the company has already started mass production of the third batch of Atom full-size industrial humanoid robots, advancing embodied intelligence into scenario applications in industrial and commercial settings.

From breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies to the formation of a complete industrial chain, Shenzhen’s AI and robotics industry has already taken shape into a development pattern of full-area layout and cluster city growth. As a new industrial pillar that Shenzhen is focusing on building—high-tech, high-growth, and large-scale—Shenzhen adheres to the development of digital integration, software-hardware synergy, and mechatronics integration. It works hard to build an autonomous and controllable AI software-and-hardware ecosystem, and develops a complete robotics industry chain covering core components R&D and design, end-to-end machine manufacturing, and scenario applications.

At present, Shenzhen has gathered more than 70,000 robotics industry chain enterprises, and 7 companies have been selected among the top 100 global publicly listed humanoid robot companies. Innovation platforms such as “Robot Valley” continue to release clustering effects, providing strong support for high-quality industrial development.

“The leapfrog development of artificial intelligence technology has brought transformation and opportunities to the robotics industry. This is reflected in the fact that robots can enter more scenarios, and even enter the home,” said Tan Weijia, Secretary-General of the Shenzhen Robotics Association. “Each scenario has different hardware requirements for robots, so Shenzhen’s advantages across the industry chain will be leveraged even more fully.”

Shenzhen is using artificial intelligence and robotics as key tools to continuously grow the “20+8” strategic emerging industry cluster system, transforming technological advantages into industrial strengths.

Yu Lingqu, Executive Director of the Comprehensive Development Research Institute (China · Shenzhen) and Executive Director of the Financial Development and State-Owned Assets and State-Owned Enterprises Research Institute, said that Shenzhen has already formed many first-mover advantages in intelligent robotics. In terms of R&D and design, end-to-end machine manufacturing, system integration, and scenario implementation, it has formed a complete industrial ecosystem. “Whether it is large enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises, they can achieve rapid development within this industrial ecosystem, so as to enhance their market competitiveness.” (Luo Yunpeng)

Original Title: Continuous Improvement of Independent Technologies, Blooming Application Scenarios Everywhere — Shenzhen’s AI and Robotics Industry Fully Laid Out Across the Whole Area to Form a Cluster into a Trend Source: Science and Technology Daily

Endless information, precise interpretation—available in the Sina Finance app