bottleneckScore 90/100Research
Figure AI facing critical supply chain gaps in motors, actuators, sensors; designing 100% of subsystems in-house due to lack of viable suppliers
“The biggest issue we face last year and a half is there's just nowhere there's there's there's no good places to get really great supply chain across these areas. It's been I've probably been off by like an order of magnitude in my expectation. Like we'd be able to buy like electric motors and actuators and sensors and battery packs and maybe other types of electronics like it's it's just not the case... we've had to design almost all of the robot. Like we've done all the actuators, all the battery systems, all the electronics, all the structures, like it's just everything we've designed.”
Why it matters
This reveals a major supply chain bottleneck in specialized robotics components—electric motors, actuators, sensors, and battery systems lack production-ready suppliers at the scale and specifications needed for humanoid robots. This constraint forces significant internal capex and delays time-to-market.
Investment implication
Investors should monitor whether specialized motor/actuator suppliers (e.g., Maxon Motor, Harmonic Drive, custom integrators) experience increased demand from robotics startups, or whether Figure's in-house strategy becomes a competitive moat. The $200+ PCBs per robot also signals opportunity for custom electronics/sensor suppliers serving robotics.