Schaeffler (XETRA: SHA): A Million-Actuator Bet on Humanoid Robots
Schaeffler has spent eighty years making bearings, and the same precision-manufacturing logic that put its rolling elements inside a huge share of the world's cars and machines now applies to a robot's joint. In May 2026 it signed one of the largest disclosed humanoid robot deals ever — not just to supply actuators, but to run the robots on its own factory floors first.
Who they are
Schaeffler has spent recent years reorganising itself away from a pure automotive parts identity into what it now calls a "Motion Technology Company," structured around four product-oriented divisions: E-Mobility, Powertrain & Chassis, Bearings & Industrial Solutions, and Vehicle Lifetime Solutions. The 2024 merger with Vitesco Technologies was the mechanism for that reorganisation, consolidating a much larger automotive electronics and powertrain business under one roof.
CEO Klaus Rosenfeld has been explicit that humanoid robotics and defense are the company's two named "new growth areas," with a strategic target of generating up to 10% of group revenue from these new areas by 2035. That is a meaningfully longer time horizon than most component makers in this chain state publicly, and it reflects Schaeffler's institutional patience: bearings and precision motion are decades-long product cycles, and management appears to be treating humanoid robotics the same way.
The company's own estimate of its addressable content in a humanoid robot is striking: strain wave gears, planetary gear actuators, sensors and bearings together represent roughly 50% of the bill of materials in a typical humanoid, and Schaeffler is targeting capturing about 10% of that addressable market — a specific, quantified ambition rather than a vague growth story.
What they do
The headline event of 2026 was Schaeffler's agreement with Humanoid, a UK-based robotics developer founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024. The deal has two parts. First, a deployment agreement: Schaeffler will integrate Humanoid's wheeled robots directly into live manufacturing operations, starting at two German sites — Herzogenaurach for box-handling in a live production environment, and Schweinfurt for a phased capability demonstration scaling to continuous operation. Schaeffler is targeting a four-digit number of robots deployed across its global facilities by 2032.
Second, and more directly relevant to this stage, a five-year supply agreement: Schaeffler becomes Humanoid's preferred actuator supplier, covering more than 50% of the company's joint-actuator demand for its wheeled-based platforms through 2031, translating to what both companies describe as a seven-digit number of actuators — somewhere between one and nine million units. Industry analysts note that at roughly 20 actuators per robot, a seven-digit order implies Humanoid expects to sell at least 50,000 robots over five years, and since Schaeffler covers only half that demand, the real production number could run well above that.
Schaeffler CEO Rosenfeld has said the company is now engaged with roughly 45 humanoid robotics players worldwide and expects its humanoid robotics division to secure an order book in the hundreds of millions of euros by 2030. Schaeffler has also separately committed to deploying units from Germany's Neura Robotics and roughly 1,000 Hexagon AEON humanoids — supplying joints to multiple robot makers rather than betting on a single winner.
How they make money
Schaeffler's 2025 group revenue was €23.49 billion, down 0.6% at constant currency on a pro-forma basis, with an EBIT margin before special items that improved from 3.5% to 4.0%. E-Mobility was the standout division, up 7.0% for the full year, while Bearings & Industrial Solutions and Powertrain & Chassis both saw revenue and earnings pressure from a weak broader automotive market. First-half 2026 results showed revenue roughly stable year over year with the company confirming full-year guidance, and management specifically flagged continued good progress in humanoid robotics and defense during the reporting period.
What the deal buys Schaeffler beyond direct revenue is real-world deployment data from running actual humanoid robots inside its own factories — the same "user and supplier at once" strategy Hyundai is running through Boston Dynamics and Mobis, giving Schaeffler design feedback that pure component suppliers without deployment access don't get.
Where it sits in the value chain
Schaeffler sits in Stage 3 — Actuators, screws & joint modules, and its bill-of-materials estimate — strain wave gears, planetary gear actuators, sensors and bearings together making up roughly half a humanoid's cost — effectively describes the entire actuator stage from the inside. Few companies in this chain have that breadth of product line spanning gearing, motion, and sensing simultaneously.
Its position also straddles Stage 8 (deployment) through the Humanoid factory rollout, making Schaeffler one of the few names in this chain that appears as both a component supplier and an end customer within the same disclosed relationship — a structure that mirrors, on a smaller scale, what Hyundai Motor Group has built across Boston Dynamics, Mobis and its own factories.
The bigger trend
Schaeffler's willingness to name a specific 10% market-capture target and quantify its bill-of-materials exposure is unusually direct for this stage of the chain, where most suppliers describe humanoid opportunity in qualitative terms. That specificity is itself a signal that Schaeffler's internal planning has moved past the exploratory phase into genuine capacity and commercial commitment — the Humanoid deal's Robot-as-a-Service structure, bundling fleet management, maintenance and support, suggests Schaeffler is thinking about robotics as a recurring-revenue business model, not a one-time hardware sale.
The risk sits in concentration and timing: a single named customer, Humanoid, accounts for the largest disclosed piece of this strategy, and that company's own success at scaling to tens of thousands of units by the early 2030s is far from guaranteed. Schaeffler's multi-customer approach — also supplying Neura Robotics and Hexagon — is the hedge against any single relationship underdelivering.
What to watch
- Whether the Herzogenaurach and Schweinfurt deployments hit their operational milestones on the December 2026 through mid-2027 timeline.
- Actual actuator shipment volumes against the seven-digit, five-year Humanoid supply commitment.
- Progress toward the "hundreds of millions of euros by 2030" order book target across all humanoid customers combined.
- Whether the core automotive business (Powertrain & Chassis, Bearings & Industrial Solutions) stabilises enough to fund continued robotics investment.
- Additional named humanoid customers beyond Humanoid, Neura Robotics and Hexagon.
Related companies
🇰🇷Running the same automotive-supplier-to-robot-actuator pivot, backed by Boston Dynamics instead of Humanoid.
🇨🇳Chinese actuator assembler reportedly courted by Tesla, at similarly large disclosed volumes.
🇯🇵Adjacent motion-technology maker with overlapping bearing and linear-motion expertise — not yet profiled.
FAQ
What exactly did Schaeffler agree to with Humanoid?
Two things: a deployment agreement to integrate Humanoid's robots into live manufacturing operations at two German sites starting late 2026, targeting a four-digit robot fleet by 2032, and a separate five-year supply agreement making Schaeffler the preferred actuator supplier covering more than 50% of Humanoid's joint-actuator demand through 2031, translating to a seven-digit number of actuators.
How big could Schaeffler's humanoid robotics business become?
CEO Klaus Rosenfeld has said Schaeffler expects its humanoid robotics division to reach an order book in the hundreds of millions of euros by 2030, and the company's broader target is up to 10% of group revenue from new growth areas including robotics and defense by 2035. Both figures are management targets rather than guaranteed outcomes.
Does Schaeffler only supply Humanoid, or other robot makers too?
Schaeffler has also committed to deploying humanoid units from Germany's Neura Robotics and roughly 1,000 Hexagon AEON humanoids, while supplying joint components to each. Management has described this as a deliberate "user and supplier" strategy that isn't betting on a single robot maker winning the market.
What percentage of a humanoid robot's cost does Schaeffler estimate it can address?
The company estimates its combined product portfolio — strain wave gears, planetary gear actuators, sensors and bearings — represents roughly 50% of a typical humanoid's bill of materials, and it is targeting capturing about 10% of that addressable content.