CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Humanoid robots are great, but they need buyers too

A Lingyi iTech factory in Beijing is ramping up production of humanoid robots for various startups. CNBC | Evelyn Cheng Hi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection — a snapshot of what I'm seeing and hearing from local businesses. Humanoids are popping up everywhere, even reshaping a smartphone manufacturer. If it's a bubble, who survives? The big story Just weeks after opening in late April, a humanoid factory in Beijing says it's already produced 300 robots for clients — as it ramps up toward 10,000 this year. The 20-year-old smartphone and electronics manufacturer Lingyi iTech aims to expand annual production to 500,000 a year by 2030. Producing robots at that scale could halve the price of a humanoid, which now runs about $30,000, said the company's Vice President Philip Yang. Over 100 humanoid start-ups in China are racing to develop household helpers. Some robots can already dance and serve coffee. The question is: Who is buying them? The majority of humanoid orders so far are just one or two robots, said Bain's Beijing-based partner Xin Cheng. He's watching whether companies make repeat orders. Chinese authorities are also eager to drum up customers. Beijing opened a showroom in August filled with robots including a soccer-playing humanoid Booster T1 for 199,000 yuan (about $29,400), and a 349,999 yuan R1 Pro made by start-up Galaxea, which can sort packages. …