Three leading European semiconductor firms - Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics - disclosed partnerships with Nvidia to provide hardware for humanoid robots, aiming to capture demand in what industry participants see as an emerging commercial segment.
The announcements were coordinated by Nvidia on the day before its annual GPU Technology Conference in California, where the company is expected to highlight efforts to establish its Jetson Thor processors as the "brain" or central computing platform for robots.
In these arrangements, the European suppliers are being positioned to deliver many of the components that form the rest of a robot’s body. Their roles include supplying electronics that enable safe and reliable operation, various sensors, motion-control components, power-management elements, and high-speed internal communications that route data to and from the central processor.
Analysts note substantial overlap between technology used in modern automobiles and the electronics required by advanced robots. George Chowdhury, an analyst at ABI Research, said it was a natural progression for the European firms to seek partnerships with Nvidia. He estimated that platforms from Nvidia are used in more than 80% of humanoid robots.
Chowdhury also provided price range context for the machines themselves, saying that higher-end humanoid robots can cost around $200,000, while lower-cost models may be priced at roughly a tenth of that amount. Separately, market tracker TrendForce estimates that more than 50,000 humanoid robots will be sold this year for the first time.
Infineon outlined its expectation for a specific component market, saying a spokesperson anticipates roughly $500 in parts per robot. The company’s pitch highlighted its use of "digital twins," allowing developers to test and tune robot performance during the design phase rather than only in physical trials.
None of the partnership announcements included financial details.
STMicroelectronics framed its contribution largely around sensors, describing work to help robot developers connect cameras and motion sensors to Nvidia-based systems. NXP emphasised the importance of fast, reliable internal communications inside the robot, which enable different subsystems to send data quickly to the central processor so motion and sensing stay coordinated.
Gowri Chindalore, head of AI at NXP’s edge computing arm, illustrated that internal processing can handle some information locally - for example, immediately processing part of the data from a voice command - and then route "further communication to the brain in a very fast loop."
This set of coordinated announcements underscores how chipmakers with established automotive business are seeking roles in robotics by providing complementary hardware around a central compute platform. The partners’ statements focus on technical fits and market potential rather than commercial terms.