The $6 Billion Chinese Startup Trying to Build Hands for Every Robot | WIRED
Skip to main contentCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyIf you could buy a humanoid robot for less than a smartphone, would you? Would you buy several robots to handle cooking, cleaning, babysitting, and even your job?This is the pitch being made by Zhou Yong, the 40-year-old founder and chief technology officer of LinkerBot, one of China’s leading manufacturers of dexterous humanoid hands. The startup’s hardware comes complete with five fingers and at least 11 joints and is sold for as little as $600 in China. LinkerBot’s hands can play piano, thread needles, tighten screws, and assemble electronics. In three to five years, Zhou predicts, the price for one will fall to just $200. Eventually, “everyone will own 10 robots on average,” Zhou said in an exclusive interview with WIRED.Marketing spectacles like the humanoid robot marathon in Beijing have drawn attention to robots’ legs, but the real frontier in humanoids is hands. “The hands are the majority of the engineering difficulty of the entire robot,” Elon Musk said at an event last fall. Founded in 2023, LinkerBot has quickly emerged as a market leader in the space. The company says it shipped 10,000 robotic hands last year, representing 80 percent of worldwide demand. Its clients include research labs, manufacturers, and other humanoid robot makers.The startup is also a venture capital darling: It completed six rounds of fundraising in just 13 months from investors including the Chinese government, Alibaba’s Ant Group, and HongShan Capital, Sequoia Capital’s Chinese spinoff. LinkerBot is now seeking another round of financing at a $6 billion valuation, double what the company said it was worth only a few months ago. And it’s reportedly exploring going public in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg. (Zhou declined to comment on the rumored plans.)In 2019, after selling a previous startup focused on autonomous driving, Zhou turned his attention to robotics. He says he predicted the industry would begin booming around 2025, but was still taken aback by how quickly it grew. While OpenAI was once at the forefront of developing robotic hands, in recent years Chinese startups have taken the lead as many of their American counterparts shifted their focus toward large language models and other AI software.For robotics companies, “the valuation gap between the Chinese and US primary markets has been basically erased,” Zhou says.Zhou says his lifelong goal is to make a real-life version of Doraemon, the Japanese anime character that has an infinite supply of magical gadgets in its pocket. (His WeChat avatar is a picture of Doraemon.) He sees building a capable, dexterous hand as an instrumental step toward achieving that dream.Courtesy of LinkerBotSelling Shovels to MinersSuccessful companies, Zhou argues, focus on doing one thing well. That’s why LinkerBot zeroed in on hands, rather than trying to build the entire body of a humanoid. That also allows it to avoid directly competing with leading humanoid companies like Unitree or Tesla.“When the humanoid robot industry size is so massive, specializing in making hands is like selling water or shovels [during the gold rush],” says Hong Shangguan, a veteran investor in China’s tech industry and a former partner at the Beijing-based fund Legend Capital.LinkerBot already has a significant price advantage in the market. Its Linker Hand products range from $600 to $15,000, depending on the number of joints and level of dexterity required. “A lot of companies can show impressive demos. Fewer can ship hands that factories can actually afford to install,” says Rui Ma, founder of the independent research firm Tech Buzz China, which recently published an article concluding that LinkerBot was the startup best positioned to become the industry standard in the short term.Zhou has a lot of confidence in the strength of China’s manufacturing industry. In every product category, “as long as China and other countries started around the same time, China always ends up leading it—whether it’s solar panels or electric vehicles,” he says. But the challenge is figuring out how to position that less as a threat and more as an opportunity. “We are helping global robotics manufacturers lower their costs and accelerate wider adoption,” Zhou argues. To overcome long-standing skepticism about the quality of Chinese-made products, the company is offering international buyers up to a year to exchange them.Robots Will Replace UsZhou says the rollout of humanoid robots will happen in three stages. First, robots will dance, greet guests, and fulfill emotional or entertainment roles, capabilities Chinese companies have already showcased extensively over the past year. Next, they’ll take on narrowly defined jobs like making drinks, cooking, and sorting packages. The final stage, he says, will be deploying them in complex environments such as the home. A robot may need to operate in hundreds of different homes, and “each one could have a completely different layout and different objects,” he says. Such varied scenarios will require robots to combine many different skill sets to finish even one small job.Courtesy of LinkerBotOne of LinkerBot’s current strategies is to tailor its hands for use in sophisticated manufacturing facilities, especially as the Chinese economy looks to upgrade its factories. The company is even using its robotic hands in its own assembly lines to make more robotic hands, demonstrating their industrial usefulness.China has long been known for having cheap labor, but domestic manufacturers have a large appetite for automation, Shangguan says. “When I visited EV factories in China and talked to the production managers, they said even China is facing a labor shortage problem because the younger generation is less willing to work in factories,” she says. “For jobs where we can’t find workers, we also have to get robots.”In Zhou’s vision for the future, robots will become “100 times” greater than any human and will completely replace them eventually. It's hard to imagine what such a world would look like, but Zhou says he’s not worried about the downsides. “People don’t really care whether they are unemployed; what they care about is whether they receive relief payments or welfare benefits,” he says.Zhou predicts that by that time, AI and robots will have made goods and services so abundant that people will no longer need to work. But even in that world, he acknowledges that inequality will persist: “Someone might see online that rich people are traveling to the moon, while they themselves can only travel to Italy.”This is an edition of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ Made in China newsletter. Read previous newsletters here.CommentsBack to topTriangleYou Might Also LikeHow to find us: Add WIRED.com to your preferred sources in GoogleHow the Canvas hack threatened thousands of schoolsBig Story: I've covered robots for years—this one is eerily lifelikeOrbs, saucers, and flashes on the moon—here’s what’s in the UFO filesTake our survey: What does “home” mean to you?Zeyi Yang is a senior writer at WIRED, covering technology and business in China. He cowrites Made in China, a weekly newsletter that gives readers a clear-eyed, unbiased view of the biggest tech news coming out of the country. Prior to joining WIRED, he was China reporter at MIT Technology ... Read MoreSenior WriterTopicsMade in ChinaChinaroboticsStartupsrobotsmanufacturingautomationWe Asked the Future of Truth Author to Explain How He Used AI. It Didn’t Go WellA book about how AI shapes perceptions of reality came under fire for using AI-generated quotes. Its problems go beyond that.Kate KnibbsThe Vatican’s Man Inside AnthropicPope Leo XIV may not be able to disarm AI, but he’s got the attention of the industry.Steven LevyBlue Origin Rocket Explodes in Fiery SetbackThe detonation of the New Glenn rocket resulted in a huge fireball in Florida and may have long-term implications for the company's ambitions.Marta MussoThis Privacy Screen Totally Changed How I Feel About Working in PublicI'm one of those people who enjoys working on planes and in public spaces in general. But the issue of privacy was always a hurdle.Luke LarsenPhysical Media Is Making a Comeback. The Next Console Generation Might Kill ItConsoles with disc drives are the easiest way to enjoy all kinds of physical media, but that could end with the next-gen PlayStation 6 and Microsoft's Project Helix.Matt KamenFound: The Rucking Backpack You Can Actually Take AnywhereBuilt like a tank, the endlessly capable GoRuck GR1 is as close to a do-it-all bag as you can get.Scott GilbertsonStreamers Like Clavicular Are Humiliating OnlyFans Girls For CloutSex workers appear on the livestreams of famous manosphere influencers to boost their followings—but often end up being degraded.Ej Dickson The Best Espresso Accessories for Home BaristasA longtime pro barista’s favorite tools for dialing in the perfect shot at home.Pete CottellTop Meta Quest Promo Codes and Coupons for June 2026Experience cutting-edge VR and save up to 20% with coupons for the latest games, Meta Quest 3, Ray-Ban AI glasses, and more deals.Brad BourqueEnjoy up to 20% Off With eBay Coupons in June 2026Save up to 60% on a selection of items at eBay, including electronics, home products, card games, car parts and more.Molly HigginsTop Bartesian Discount Codes: 35% OffUpgrade your home bar with the latest Bartesian coupon codes and discounts. Save on the Professional Cocktail Maker, enjoy subscription discounts, and get free shipping on your favorite capsules.Matthew KorfhageTop Target Promo Codes for June 2026Get $50 off your next order or up to 50% off site wide with Target coupon codes and Circle deals.Molly Higgins