Leapmotor Expands into Intelligent Robotics with New Subsidiary

Leapmotor has established a new company covering intelligent robotics businesses, signaling a deeper move into the embodied intelligence sector.

Business registration records show Huzhou Lingsheng Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was recently founded with registered capital of RMB 210M ($31.0M). The company’s legal representative is Wu Cun, vice president of Leapmotor. It is fully owned by Zhejiang Lingsheng Power Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Leapmotor.

The new company’s business scope covers automotive parts manufacturing, electronic component production and electric motor manufacturing. It has also added industrial robot manufacturing and intelligent robotics research and development.

The addition of robotics-related businesses signals Leapmotor’s further exploration into intelligent robotics-related businesses.

Leapmotor has already begun tracking robotics technology. In March 2025, Leapmotor founder Zhu Jiangming revealed that the company had formed a research team of dozens of engineers. The humanoid robot project was still in the pre-research stage at the time. It was positioned as a technology reserve, without a clear product launch timeline.

In August 2025, Cao Li, a Leapmotor executive, said on social media that the company would continue expanding talent recruitment in intelligent driving, smart cockpits and embodied intelligence. The company also opened positions including embodied VLA algorithm engineers and embodied VLA reinforcement learning algorithm engineers.

In recent years, several Chinese automakers have accelerated expansion into robotics.

XPeng’s humanoid robot IRON has entered the commercialization phase. The robot has started small-batch trial production at XPeng’s Guangzhou factory. The company plans to achieve mass production by the end of 2026, with global rollout expected in 2027. Initial applications will focus on commercial service scenarios such as showroom guidance and product demonstrations.

BYD’s humanoid robot program has also made new progress. The company confirmed that its related products will be unveiled in August. Earlier, Li Ke, executive vice president of BYD, said the company plans to explore robot applications across its dealership network, including customer reception, vehicle demonstrations and product presentations.

For automakers, intelligent robotics development has strong technical links with intelligent vehicle manufacturing. Capabilities accumulated through the new energy vehicle industry, including motor control, AI algorithms, smart manufacturing and supply chain management, overlap with robotics development.

China’s intelligent robotics market is also expanding rapidly. In the first half of 2026, China’s industrial robot output increased 28% year on year. Service robot output rose 11.9%. The number of humanoid robot products has exceeded 400.

As embodied intelligence technology moves closer to commercial deployment, intelligent robotics is becoming a new growth direction for Chinese automakers.

For Leapmotor, the establishment of the new company creates a formal entry point for its intelligent robotics strategy. Although the business remains at an early stage, Leapmotor’s accumulated capabilities in electric drive systems, electronic electrical architecture and smart cockpits could provide technical support for future exploration in embodied intelligence.