Five Chinese Firms Secure Thailand BOI Approval for 10 Billion THB Humanoid Robot Component Manufacturing Hub

Recently, Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) has officially approved investment applications from five Chinese companies to jointly establish the country's first humanoid robot core component manufacturing base in Chonburi Province, within the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). The total initial investment exceeds 10 billion Thai Baht (approximately RMB 2.19 billion). BOI Secretary-General Narit Therdsteerasukdi publicly stated that the projects aim to strengthen Thailand's high-tech supply chain ecosystem and open new opportunities for the country's manufacturing sector in automation and robotics.

 

 

Source：AI

 

The five approved companies — Seenpin, Beite Technology, Sanhua Intelligent Controls, Tuopu Group, and Xusheng Group — collectively cover the core segments of the humanoid robot supply chain, spanning transmission components, actuator assemblies, and structural frame parts.

 

Hangzhou Seenpin Electromechanical Transmission Co., Ltd. (Seenpin) is a veteran player with over two decades of specialization in Planetary Roller Screws (PRS), holding more than 100 core patents. The company has been widely regarded in the industry as a key component supplier for Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus. In this latest move, Seenpin plans to invest 2.11 billion THB in Chonburi Province to manufacture high-precision transmission components.

 

Shanghai Beite Technology Group Co., Ltd. (Beite Technology) is a leading automotive components manufacturer that has leveraged over 20 years of metal precision machining expertise to pivot into the ball screw and roller screw sector. The company is currently co-developing multiple products with clients, including Planetary Roller Screws, miniature ball screws, and trapezoidal lead screws. According to its official disclosure, Beite Technology also plans to build a PRS production base in Chonburi Province, with Phase 1 total investment of approximately RMB 349 million (approx. 1.59 billion THB). Upon full production, the facility is expected to achieve an annual PRS capacity of 800,000 sets.

 

Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co., Ltd. (Sanhua Intelligent Controls) is the world's largest manufacturer of refrigeration control components. In 2024, the company rapidly entered the humanoid robot electromechanical actuator segment by leveraging technology convergence, securing the first batch of actuator orders — exceeding 1,000 units — from leading domestic robotics companies within just one year. In its latest strategic push into Thailand, Sanhua Intelligent Controls will invest 1.8 billion THB to drive R&D and production of humanoid robot actuators, further building out its globally coordinated manufacturing network.

 

Ningbo Tuopu Group Co., Ltd. (Tuopu) is an automotive components giant that has already established a strong position in the humanoid robot actuator sub-segment. According to a Kaiyuan Securities research report, the company's robot actuators and dexterous hand motors have entered mass production, and its production line for 300,000 sets of electric drive systems per year has been commissioned. This latest investment of 930 million THB in a dedicated actuator production line is expected to further consolidate Tuopu's capacity footprint and market competitiveness.

 

 

Source：Tuopu

 

Ningbo Xusheng Group Co., Ltd. (Xusheng) commands the largest single investment among the five, at 2.7 billion THB, with a focus on setting up production lines for humanoid robot chassis, structural frames, and joint components. In recent years, Xusheng has steadily extended its lightweight technology capabilities into the robotics space, entering supply agreements with multiple humanoid robot clients for joint housings and torso structural parts.

 

Thailand Enters the Global Robotics Map — Chinese Companies Abroad Reshape Supply Chain Dynamics

 

The collective entry of these five Chinese companies into Thailand reflects a convergence of macro-level drivers, rather than a simple case of capacity relocation.

 

From Thailand's strategic standpoint, the approvals carry a clear policy signal. BOI Secretary-General Narit Therdsteerasukdi noted that the global humanoid robot market is projected to grow at over 130% annually, with commercial-scale mass production expected to take off around 2027. Long established as Southeast Asia's core manufacturing hub, Thailand already possesses robust industrial infrastructure and logistics capabilities, and is now actively seizing the window of the robotics industry boom to upgrade toward advanced manufacturing. The Eastern Economic Corridor, Thailand's flagship high-tech industrial zone, is a direct beneficiary of this strategy. According to BOI projections, once the five projects are fully operational, the cluster is expected to create thousands of local jobs and drive the core components market to surpass 45 billion THB.

 

From the perspective of Chinese companies going global, the choice of Thailand is far from coincidental. In recent years, major automotive component players — including Tuopu and Sanhua Intelligent Controls — have been simultaneously expanding overseas capacity as they enter the humanoid robot space, with Thailand and Mexico emerging as the two most concentrated destinations. A key factor is the latent demand from North American clients such as Tesla Optimus for localized supply. A Goldman Sachs research report previously noted that most robotics component suppliers are actively planning both domestic Chinese and overseas capacity in anticipation of potential humanoid robot mass production. Thailand's combination of geographic positioning, policy environment, and tariff conditions makes it a strategically advantageous gateway to European and American clients.

 

The product profiles of the five companies form a reasonably complete component ecosystem — transmission screws (Seenpin, Beite Technology), electromechanical actuator assemblies (Sanhua Intelligent Controls, Tuopu), and lightweight structural components (Xusheng) — covering most of the critical motion system architecture of a humanoid robot. This cluster-based layout suggests that the Chonburi area could evolve into a nascent humanoid robot component industrial ecosystem, rather than a collection of isolated single-point investments.

 

That said, this investment wave also reflects the industry's current early-stage dynamics. Confirmed mass production orders for humanoid robots remain relatively limited, and multiple companies have acknowledged that they are "awaiting large-scale client orders." Capacity build-out is, to a significant degree, a forward-looking bet on future demand. But pre-emptive investment of this kind is a hallmark of industries on the cusp of a major inflection point — those who lock in capacity and secure client relationships first are best positioned when mass production ultimately takes off.

 

For Thailand, the implications extend beyond near-term employment and tax revenues. As more globally competitive Chinese humanoid robot component manufacturers establish a local presence, Thailand has a genuine opportunity to embed itself in the global humanoid robot supply chain as a substantive manufacturing node, not merely an assembly destination. The BOI has indicated that additional companies have already expressed interest in establishing humanoid robot component facilities in Thailand, suggesting this cohort of five could well serve as a catalyst for broader industrial clustering.