Its name: “Physical AI”, or physical artificial intelligence.

Behind this concept, still relatively unknown to the general public, lies what some investors already consider to be the next major technology cycle after the internet, cloud computing and generative AI.

The idea is simple but potentially revolutionary: enabling artificial intelligence to interact physically with the real world through robots, autonomous machines, smart factories and systems capable of seeing, understanding, moving and acting.

And the amounts being invested are already giving a sense of the scale of the phenomenon.

According to several specialized research firms, the global market for intelligent robotics and Physical AI could exceed $3 trillion by 2040 if humanoid robots, autonomous factories and robotic systems truly become widespread across industry and services.

For investors, the question is no longer whether this market will emerge, but rather which companies will become the future giants of this new economy.

The potential IPO of SpaceX could create a mixed reaction for Tesla shares. In the short term, some investors could shift part of their Tesla positions in order to gain direct exposure to SpaceX, considered one of the most strategic technology assets in the world. But in the medium term, the development of Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus could, on the contrary, strengthen Tesla’s valuation by gradually repositioning the group as a global leader in Physical AI and robotics, beyond the automotive market alone.

For investors, “Physical AI” could become a market even larger than electric vehicles. According to Goldman Sachs, humanoid robots could represent more than $150 billion by 2035, while the broader intelligent robotics market could exceed $400 billion. Driven by labor shortages, industrial automation and the rise of AI, this sector is already attracting massive amounts of capital, with players such as NVIDIA valued at more than $3 trillion in 2026.

A historic transition: AI moves beyond screens

Since 2023, generative artificial intelligence has deeply transformed technology markets. OpenAI, NVIDIA, Microsoft and Google have seen their valuations soar thanks to the democratization of language models.

But until now, this revolution has remained essentially digital.

AI was producing:

• Text
• ImagesVideos
• Code
• Analysis

Physical AI completely changes the game.

For the first time, artificial intelligence is leaving screens and entering the physical world.

The new systems developed by industrial companies and startups now aim to create machines capable of manipulating objects, moving around, interacting with humans, analyzing their environment and performing physical tasks autonomously.

In other words, AI is gradually becoming a workforce.

And that is precisely what is now attracting the attention of financial markets.

NVIDIA: the silent winner of Physical AI

If there is one company today already benefiting massively from the rise of Physical AI, it is probably NVIDIA. After dominating the generative artificial intelligence market through its GPUs, the group is now accelerating strongly in humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, smart factories, industrial simulations and computer vision.

Its CEO, Jensen Huang, now openly describes “Physical AI” as the next massive market for artificial intelligence. And the numbers are already staggering: NVIDIA’s market capitalization surpassed $3 trillion in 2026, making the group one of the most powerful companies in the history of technology.

This dominance can be explained by a positioning that has become almost unavoidable. Today, a large share of intelligent robotics players use NVIDIA GPUs, CUDA platforms, Omniverse simulation tools and embedded systems developed by the group. NVIDIA is therefore gradually becoming the central infrastructure of the new global robotics economy, just as the internet and cloud computing were for previous technological revolutions.

Figure AI: the humanoid startup fascinating Silicon Valley

Among the most closely watched companies today is Figure AI.

Still unknown to the general public not long ago, the company is now attracting attention across Silicon Valley.

The reason?
Figure AI is developing humanoid robots capable of performing physical tasks in:

Warehouses, logistics, factories and supply chains.

But what impresses investors most is the financial backing behind the project.

The company is backed by Microsoft, OpenAI, NVIDIA and Jeff Bezos.

According to several American financial media outlets, Figure AI has already reached a valuation of several billion dollars even before a possible IPO.

The humanoid robot sector is therefore beginning to reproduce what the market experienced with generative AI startups between 2023 and 2025.

While the world is talking about ChatGPT,
another, much deeper revolution
may already be beginning.

China is accelerating massively

While Western media focus on American giants, China is moving very quickly in intelligent robotics.

The Chinese government now considers humanoid robots a strategic priority sector.

According to Chinese authorities, the country aims to become one of the global leaders in the sector before 2030.

And several companies are rapidly gaining momentum.

Unitree Robotics is attracting particular attention thanks to its humanoid and quadruped robots, which are offered at far more aggressive costs than their Western competitors.

Other players such as UBTech, Fourier Intelligence and Xiaomi are now investing heavily in:

• Sensors
• Batteries
• Robotic components
• Autonomous systems

China already has considerable advantages: industrial power, access to components, battery expertise, massive production capacity and an integrated supply chain.

As with electric vehicles, Beijing appears determined not to miss the next technological revolution.

Historic industrial players are already preparing their autonomous factories

But startups are not the only ones accelerating in Physical AI. Major legacy industrial groups are also investing heavily in factory transformation and intelligent automation.

Siemens is strongly developing its activities around digital twins, smart factories, industrial automation and predictive AI. The German group is now betting on factories capable of optimizing their own production using data, smart sensors and artificial intelligence.

ABB, meanwhile, remains one of the global leaders in industrial robotics, with a major presence in automotive, logistics, energy and automated production lines. The group is now investing heavily in collaborative robots and industrial intelligence systems capable of improving the flexibility of modern factories.

The same momentum can be seen at Teradyne, owner of Universal Robots, considered the global leader in cobots. These collaborative robots, capable of working alongside humans, are experiencing particularly rapid growth among industrial SMEs and flexible production lines.

According to several sector studies, the global cobot market could exceed $20 billion before 2030, driven by the search for productivity, labor shortages and the acceleration of industrial automation.

Case study: Amazon warehouse automation

One of the best examples of this transition toward Physical AI is probably logistics.

For several years, Amazon has been accelerating the automation of its warehouses by relying on mobile robots, artificial intelligence systems, machine vision and advanced logistics algorithms. The group reportedly now has more than 750,000 robots deployed in its logistics centers around the world.

The objective is clear: reduce delivery times, improve productivity, offset recruitment challenges and optimize operating costs.

Amazon is now experimenting with even more advanced technologies combining generative AI, autonomous robots and intelligent object manipulation in order to make its infrastructure increasingly flexible and automated.

This technological model is now inspiring much of the global logistics sector and represents precisely the type of environment targeted today by startups specializing in humanoid robots.

A response to the global labor shortage

Behind the technological enthusiasm lies a much deeper economic reality.

Demographic aging is now affecting Europe, Japan, South Korea, China and, gradually, several Western economies.

In certain sectors such as industry, logistics, healthcare, maintenance and services, industrial companies are already facing increasing recruitment pressure. In many developed countries, population aging, the decline in the number of qualified technical profiles and the rapid transformation of jobs are creating a structural labor shortage.

In sectors such as logistics, industrial maintenance, automotive, automated warehouses and manufacturing, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit operators, technicians and engineers capable of working in advanced technological environments. According to several international studies, several million industrial jobs could remain vacant in the coming years due to a lack of available qualified talent.

This situation is gradually pushing industrial players to accelerate their investments in intelligent automation. New-generation robots are no longer designed only to replace repetitive tasks on fixed production lines. Thanks to recent progress in artificial intelligence, computer vision and smart sensors, these systems are gradually becoming capable of adapting to complex environments and collaborating with humans.

In this context, intelligent robots appear to be a potential long-term economic solution for offsetting certain labor shortages, improving productivity and maintaining industrial competitiveness. Although the market is still young and technologically in a phase of acceleration, many industrial players already consider Physical AI to be one of the possible answers to the structural challenges of the global labor market.

Logistics is becoming one of the
first testing grounds
for Physical AI.

Is the market already in a bubble?

As with every technological revolution, valuations are already beginning to raise questions.

Some humanoid robot startups are worth several billion dollars despite still having very limited revenues.

Humanoid robots remain extremely complex from a technological standpoint:

• Autonomy
• Safety
• Balance
• Understanding the real world
• Fine manipulation

Large-scale economic use cases have not yet been fully validated.

But history also shows that major revolutions often begin during phases of speculation:

• The internet
• Cloud computing
• Electric vehicles
• Generative AI

Physical AI now seems to be entering this same dynamic.

A revolution that could last several decades

Unlike certain technological trends, Physical AI directly affects:

• Industry
• Infrastructure
• Logistics
• Healthcare
• Transport
• Global productivity

In other words:
Physical AI is no longer only about laboratories or software; it now directly affects the real economy.

And that is precisely what fascinates investors so much. For the first time, artificial intelligence may no longer simply assist humans with intellectual or digital tasks.

Through intelligent robots and autonomous systems, it could also act physically in the real world: moving goods, assembling products, building, assisting operators or automating certain complex industrial tasks. For many analysts, this convergence between AI and robotics could profoundly transform the global economy over the next twenty years.

“Physical AI” is no longer simply a futuristic concept reserved for research laboratories: it is gradually becoming a new strategic global market at the crossroads of artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, semiconductors and industrial infrastructure.

Companies such as NVIDIA, Figure AI, ABB, Siemens and Unitree Robotics are already among the players most closely watched by the markets.

And even though the sector remains young and speculative, one thing now seems clear: the next great revolution in artificial intelligence could be physical.

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