Recently, China Mobile dropped a deep-water bomb! When everyone thought that 5G, big data, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and broadband services were the battlefield for communication giants, it suddenly changed direction and announced the establishment of a new organization to lay out the humanoid robot industry! The humanoid robot market has a huge scale and broad prospects. According to the recently released “Humanoid Robot 100: Mapping the Humanoid Robot Value Chain” by Morgan Stanley, a consultancy, it is predicted that by 2030, the market size of Chinese humanoid robots will reach 12 billion yuan, and the sales volume will reach 1.5 million sets; In 2050, the market size of humanoid robots in China will reach 6 trillion yuan, and the sales volume will reach an astonishing 59 million units. UBS Securities also predicted that the market size of humanoid robots in China could reach 200-300 billion yuan in 2035.
Cross border targets of China Mobile’s humanoid robots
On February 22, 2025 at 00:13, China Mobile Family Center quietly released a recruitment message:
China Mobile enters the “humanoid robot” industry (Figure 1)
The message shows that China Mobile has established a new institution, the “China Mobile Tailored Intelligent Industry Innovation Center,” and has provided a clear positioning for this institution
China Mobile enters the “humanoid robot” industry (Figure 2)
There are two key points worth paying attention to: China Mobile aims to develop humanoid robots and become the world’s largest robot operator. And the current fact is that China Mobile is the world’s largest communication operator!
Strategic considerations behind cross-border operations
Why did China Mobile suddenly enter the field of humanoid robots? From the perspective of industry trends, humanoid robots are seen as an important direction for future technological development. With the rapid development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, humanoid robots have shown enormous potential for applications in multiple fields. Especially in terms of family services, it can assist in taking care of the elderly, children, and completing household chores. For China Mobile, this is a bold attempt to expand business boundaries and find new growth points.
The communication market is gradually saturated and competition is becoming increasingly fierce, making it an inevitable choice to explore new business areas. In 2024, the total number of mobile service customers of China Mobile will reach 1.004 billion, the total number of mobile service customers of China Telecom will reach 425 million, the total number of mobile service customers of China Unicom will exceed 300 million, and the total number of mobile users of broadcasting and television will reach 1.8 billion. However, the population aged 14 and above in China is only 1.158 billion, with an average of 1.55 mobile phones per person. We are already very close to the population limit, and the growth space is very limited. We must find new market space.
China Mobile enters the “humanoid robot” industry (Figure 3)
Humanized robots may be a good answer to solving the urgent needs of an aging society. From the market target positioning set by Mobile, it can also be seen that China Mobile’s humanoid robots focus on “diversified scenarios such as homes, communities, and shops”. In fact, with the acceleration of China’s aging society, elderly care is facing enormous pressure and, of course, enormous business opportunities. The population data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2024, there will be 310 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 22.0% of the national population, of which 220 million people aged 65 and above, accounting for 15.6% of the national population. These data indicate that population aging is further deepening, and the aging process has entered its fastest period. It is expected that there will be 400 million elderly people around 2035, accounting for over 30%, and by the mid-20th century, there will be over 500 million elderly people, accounting for over 40%. The aging society transitions from moderate to severe, and eventually enters a super aging society, with increased complexity and severe challenges. The huge aging population and rigid demand for care services provide unlimited imagination space for the development of humanoid robots.
China Mobile takes “communication services” as the starting point to become a “robot operator”
Where is the new communication demand space? Humanoid robots are a very important direction. The low latency and high bandwidth characteristics of 5G/6G networks enable robots to achieve faster and more stable data transmission. Imagine a humanoid robot performing tasks in a dangerous environment, connected in real-time to a control center through a 5G network, capable of quickly receiving instructions and responding, avoiding errors caused by signal delays.
Once the cost-effectiveness of robots breaks the critical point in the future, how many robots will be needed considering only the population of over a billion in China? The world’s largest robot operator is not a dream, it will definitely come true.
China Mobile enters the “humanoid robot” industry (Figure 4)
The future is here, the situation is stronger than people!
Some people may feel that their mobile research and development capabilities are still insufficient. But never doubt China Mobile’s business operation, promotion, and popularization capabilities! Think about how China Mobile, when it was first established, gradually popularized the use of “mobile phones” into today’s smartphones. Therefore, we can also believe that by 2050, every household will have their own robots, just like owning a mobile phone and a car.
China Mobile enters the “humanoid robot” industry (Figure 5)
Humanoid robots can become intelligent household managers, providing services 24/7 without worrying about labor laws, without complaints or emotions. In the morning, it will wake you up on time and prepare breakfast according to your taste; After going out, it can monitor the safety status of the home in real time, and promptly report and handle any abnormalities found; At night, it can also chat with the elderly and tell stories to children.
“In 1997, the operator turned the ‘Big Brother’ in the hands of Chinese people into a smart phone; in 2024, it will let every family have ‘Iron Man Jarvis’. This time, we may be witnessing that: for the first time, human beings redefine the boundaries of’ people ‘through the perspective of communication giants. This good play has just begun!”
