Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the US robotics industry will have to rely on China’s supply chain despite the US pioneering the market, as the company bets on physical AI and looks to return to the Chinese market.

“I think China is formidable,” Huang said when asked about the country’s rise in the robotics industry during a podcast hosted by Silicon Valley tech executives.

“The reason for that is because their microelectronics, motors, rare earth and magnets – which are foundational to robotics – are the world’s best. So in a lot of ways, our robotics industry relies deeply on their ecosystem and their supply chain,” Huang said on the podcast, which was recorded at Nvidia’s annual GTC event in San Jose, California, earlier this week, but only released on Friday.

He added that although the US “largely invented” the industry, the country got “tired and exhausted” before the emergence of the crucial enabling technology, which was “the brain”.

Huang’s remarks came as embodied intelligence – the integration of artificial intelligence with physical systems – becomes a global buzzword, particularly in China and the US.

In the latest move to capitalise on global interest in humanoids, China’s robotics champion Unitree Robotics filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai’s Star Market on Friday, seeking to raise 4.2 billion yuan (US$609 million) amid a surge in revenue and profits in 2025.