On July 24, the first batch of "Henan-made" T800 humanoid robots rolled off the production line at EngineAI's intelligent manufacturing base in Zhengzhou's High-tech Zone (Yunzhi Science Park), per Xinhua's Henan channel. It is the three-year-old company's second factory — and the clearest sign yet that EngineAI intends to compete on manufacturing scale, not just spectacle.
A Second Factory, A Global Hub
The Zhengzhou site complements EngineAI's Shenzhen Honghualing base (12,000 m²), which began mass deliveries of the T800 in late May. The Henan facility currently covers about 8,000 m², with a second phase expanding to 40,000 m², and is targeted at 10,000 units per year as the company's global manufacturing hub. Founder and CEO Zhao Tongyang — a Henan native — said the company has launched plans to build its global intelligent manufacturing headquarters in Zhengzhou, deepening R&D, production and delivery systems for larger-scale output. Alongside the first rollout, the base opened six immersive scenario experience zones showcasing the T800 and the compact PM01 across application settings.
The T800: From Fighting Ring to Factory Floor
The mass-produced T800 stands 1.73 m tall with a new-generation visual perception system and a mecha-style exterior. It is the designated platform of EngineAI's URKL global humanoid free-fighting league — capable of uppercuts, spinning kicks and autonomous fall recovery thanks to 450 N·m peak joint torque and an aerospace-grade aluminum-magnesium frame. Beyond the arena, EngineAI positions it for traffic direction, retail, education and general-purpose work, priced from around $40,000. The compact PM01 — a Unitree G1 rival — is scaling alongside it.
State Capital Bets on Henan-Made Humanoids
The Zhengzhou landing is a state-capital story as much as a startup story. Henan Investment Group, together with Zhengzhou Industrial Investment, Zhengzhou High-tech Industrial Investment and Luoyang Industrial Control Group, strategically invested in EngineAI and steered the global production base to the province. Henan has written embodied AI into its 15th Five-Year Plan, with dedicated action plans for humanoid "big and small brain" technologies and key components. The investor group says it will next connect EngineAI with provincial champions like LYC Bearing and Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery for joint work on core components and precision manufacturing — an attempt to pull the whole Central China embodied AI supply chain upward. The capacity build-out also lands as EngineAI reportedly advances toward a Hong Kong listing at a roughly $1.5 billion valuation, joining the widening queue of Chinese humanoid makers heading to public markets.
