Spring Festival Gala Robots Went Viral. But The Takes Are Wrong.

The author argues that China's viral robot demonstrations at the Spring Festival Gala owe their rapid progress to manufacturing infrastructure rather than government planning or subsidies. Describing the Gala's robots' stunts, the piece says China shipped 90% of the roughly 13,000 humanoid robots sold globally last year, with Unitree's G1 priced at $16,000 against Tesla's Optimus Gen2 at over $20,000. The author describes a US research team that stopped experiments after three Unitree robots broke, citing slow shipping and repairs, and says a dense supply chain in Shenzhen and Shanghai lets teams iterate cheaply. The piece concludes that the US should build domestic industrial infrastructure, not rely on immigration or talent.