Incumbents Subsidize Robots to Undercut Figure
Figure AI
The real threat is not just more humanoid startups, it is incumbents that can treat robots as a loss leader while they buy deployment data and customer relationships. Figure charges roughly $1,000 per robot per month in a RaaS model, so a rival with profits from cars, consumer electronics, or other automation lines can price closer to labor replacement cost, absorb weak early margins, and use those deployments to train models faster.
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Tesla is the clearest example of cross subsidization. Its first generation Optimus lines were being installed for volume production as of January 28, 2026, and Tesla has described Optimus as benefiting from its manufacturing base, battery stack, and real world AI infrastructure built for vehicles and energy products.
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Chinese players pressure the market from the other side. Unitree, UBTECH, and Fourier are already pulling price expectations down, with basic humanoids under $10,000 in sector research, and Unitree listing G1 from $4,900 on its shop site. That makes it harder for Figure to earn premium hardware margins before software value is proven.
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Other rivals also arrive with built in advantages. Apptronik has Google as its exclusive Gemini Robotics humanoid partner and Mercedes Benz as a strategic backer, while Boston Dynamics can lean on Hyundai manufacturing plans to deploy tens of thousands of robots internally. In practice, that means startup vendors are competing against customers, distribution, and capital already bundled together.
The next phase of humanoids is likely to look less like a pure technology race and more like a balance sheet race. Companies that can finance years of low margin deployments will collect more real world task data, lock in factory workflows earlier, and set price ceilings for the rest of the market. That pushes Figure to prove better uptime, faster learning, and clearer labor savings than cheaper or subsidized alternatives.