I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West

After touring Unitree's factory in Hangzhou, the author observed that most robot manufacturing remains labor-intensive despite viral videos suggesting full automation—with only one or two automated lines present while most production relies on manual workers, making mechanization economically inefficient since labor costs represent only 8% of manufacturing expenses. The author argues this demonstrates that while China excels at producing robots, Western companies will likely dominate the machinery and automation systems that manufacture these robots, suggesting Western companies have a competitive advantage in the robotics supply chain.