News that the Trump administration is strongly promoting the development of the robotics industry drove a significant rise in related stocks during trading.
On Wednesday, August 3rd, Eastern Time, media reports indicated that U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick has recently held frequent meetings with CEOs in the robotics industry, showing “full support” (all in) for accelerating its growth. The report also stated that the Trump administration is considering issuing an executive order on robotics next year. Following artificial intelligence (AI), the robotics industry is becoming the next major battleground for the U.S. to compete with other large global economies.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed the commitment to the robotics sector, stating, 'We are dedicated to robotics and advanced manufacturing because they are crucial for bringing key production back to the United States.' This follows another high-tech industry commitment made five months after the Trump administration announced its AI acceleration plan. According to a source familiar with the matter, the U.S. Department of Transportation is also preparing to announce the formation of a robotics task force, which may be unveiled before the end of the year. A spokesperson for the department did not respond to requests for comment.
During the early trading session on Wall Street this Wednesday,$iRobot (IRBT.US)$The stock price surged, rising over 79% intraday when it hit a new high for the day, and finally closed up 73.85%, leading gains among robotics-related stocks.
$Tesla (TSLA.US)$The stock price once rose by 3.5% and closed up 4.08%.$Serve Robotics (SERV.US)$The stock rose more than 9% during trading and closed up 18.24%.$Richtech Robotics (RR.US)$The stock had risen over 7% at one point and closed up 18.54%.$WeRide (WRD.US)$Closed up 5%.$Teradyne (TER.US)$Closed up nearly 3%.
Trump Administration Advances Robotics Strategy Across Multiple Departments
Media reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the U.S. Department of Transportation is preparing to announce the establishment of a robotics task force, which may be unveiled before the end of the year.
Interest in the robotics industry is also growing in the U.S. Congress. A Republican lawmaker proposed an amendment to revise the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to establish a national robotics commission. Although the amendment was not included in the final bill, other legislative efforts are underway.
This series of actions indicates that robotics is becoming a crucial frontier in the competition between the U.S. and other major economies. This is the latest example of the Trump administration embracing industrial policy and attempting to compete in key areas such as AI.
According to estimates by the International Federation of Robotics, as of 2023, Chinese factories have 1.8 million industrial robots, four times that of the U.S. China, Japan, Australia, Germany, and Singapore have all formulated national robotics initiatives.
Massive investments pour in
The U.S. needs substantial investment to catch up with other economies in the robotics industry. According to CB Insights, funding in this sector is expected to reach $2.3 billion in 2025, double last year's total. Goldman Sachs estimates that the global humanoid robotics market could reach $38 billion by 2035.
The robotics industry has been pushing for government officials and legislators to intervene. The industry hopes to receive tax incentives from the U.S. government or federal grants to help companies integrate advanced automation technologies, strengthen supply chains, and achieve large-scale deployment. They also hope to address subsidies and intellectual property practices of other countries through trade policies.
Jeff Cardenas, CEO of Apptronik, a U.S.-based humanoid robotics startup valued at $5 billion, stated: "We must get involved and consider developing a national robotics strategy to support this emerging industry in the U.S. to remain competitive."
Apptronik’s general-purpose robot Apollo is one of the first humanoid robots to operate in automotive factories. The company announced in February this year that it had completed a $350 million Series A funding round, with participation from Google.
Tech giants bet on "Physical AI"
Media reports on Wednesday described the Trump administration's strong support for the robotics industry as a shift in focus from AI to robotics within the White House, but essentially this represents an extension of the same theme.$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$Leading companies in the AI sector are heavily investing in 'physical AI,' which is essentially a collective term for the core technologies behind robotics and autonomous driving.
SoftBank's CFO clearly stated last month that the company’s divestment of $5.8 billion worth of NVIDIA shares in October was not related to the chip designer itself. Earlier this week, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son elaborated on his perspective: what will change the world is not mechanical robots, but 'physical AI embodied in robots.'
At Monday's FII Priority Asia forum, Son expressed that selling NVIDIA shares made him 'cry.' He said, 'I wish I had unlimited funds. I have immense respect for Jensen (NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang) and NVIDIA; I didn’t want to sell a single share. But I needed the funds more to invest in OpenAI and other opportunities, so I sold NVIDIA shares with tears. If I had more money, of course, I would want to hold onto NVIDIA shares forever.'
SoftBank needs to pay $22.5 billion to OpenAI by the end of the year to increase its stake in the ChatGPT developer. SoftBank’s AI strategy also includes significant investments in OpenAI, as well as data center site selection as part of the Stargate project.
Son also refuted critics who view the influx of capital into AI as a bubble, calling them 'not smart enough.' He believes that within the next decade, AI will be far smarter than humans, and 'at least 10%' of global GDP will be replaced by superintelligence and physical AI robots. If achieving this requires $10 trillion in investment, the cumulative capital expenditure will be recouped within just six months.
Musk: Robots Are the Only Solution to the Debt Crisis
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a podcast released last Sunday that he believes AI-driven robots enhancing productivity and output are the only solution to the over $38 trillion U.S. debt.
Musk said, 'I think this is almost the only way to solve the U.S. debt crisis because the current level of U.S. debt is outrageously high. The interest payments on the debt exceed the entire U.S. military budget – just the interest payments, and they will continue to rise, at least in the short term.' 'So I believe the only thing that can actually solve the debt problem is AI and robots.'
Musk added that AI and robots could lead to a significant increase in output, likely causing deflation – the opposite of inflation, resulting in a decline in price levels. He said, 'If you have AI and robots, along with a substantial increase in the output of goods and services, you may experience deflation. This seems highly probable because you simply cannot increase the money supply at the same pace as the growth in the output of goods and services.'
When asked about the current US inflation level, which remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, Musk stated that AI has not yet sufficiently increased productivity to cause deflation. He said, "AI has not yet had enough impact on productivity to make goods and services grow faster than the money supply. The US is significantly increasing the money supply with a deficit of about $2 trillion, so you need to have the output of goods and services grow more than that to avoid inflation."
Musk estimated that within approximately three years or less, the growth of goods and services would surpass the growth of the money supply, at which point AI and robotics will reshape the economy and monetary system. For now, 'we're not there yet.'
He said, "I think at some point, if you have AI and robots producing chips and solar panels, extracting resources to manufacture chips and robots... you complete that loop. Once the loop is complete, I believe that’s the moment when you decouple from the monetary system."
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