Johnson Electric Holdings Limited (00179) announced that on July 16, 2025, its wholly-owned subsidiary Johnson Electric Automotive Limited entered into two equity joint venture agreements with Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry Co., Ltd. These agreements establish complementary joint ventures targeting China's humanoid robotics sector.
The Shanghai-registered joint venture (49% owned by Johnson Electric) will serve as sales channel and business development hub, providing R&D support, application engineering, and customer services for humanoid robotics solutions across mainland China. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen-based joint venture (51% controlled by Johnson Electric) will function as an engineering design, R&D, and manufacturing center for humanoid robotics hardware modules and integrated system solutions.
Each joint venture will have registered capital of RMB 75 million. Johnson Electric will invest RMB 36.75 million cash in the Shanghai entity and RMB 38.25 million in the Shenzhen operation. Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry will inject RMB 38.25 million into the Shanghai venture and RMB 36.75 million into the Shenzhen facility, bringing Johnson's total commitment across both ventures to RMB 75 million.
This strategic structure integrates specialized manufacturing expertise with commercial capabilities, enabling end-to-end delivery of core components and subsystems for high-performance humanoid robots nationwide. The joint ventures represent a vertical integration model designed to capture emerging demand for advanced robotics across commercial, industrial, and consumer applications.
Johnson Electric's board views this initiative as a significant milestone in the company's long-term robotics expansion strategy, aligning with shareholder interests while positioning the group to capitalize on the rapidly growing humanoid robotics domain. The complementary operations will separately focus on product development, commercialization, and manufacturing through integrated business units.