Schaeffler will build humanoid joints for NEURA Robotics and put a mid-four-digit number of its robots into its own plants by 2035

Schaeffler, the German bearings and drive technology group, will become both a parts supplier and a large customer of NEURA Robotics under a technology partnership the two companies announced on 4 November 2025. Schaeffler said it plans to integrate a mid-four-digit number of humanoid robots into its production by 2035, giving the Metzingen start-up a named industrial anchor customer for its humanoids.

The agreement has three parts, according to statements published by both companies. They will jointly develop and supply key humanoid components, with actuators at the centre. An offtake agreement covers the integration of humanoid robots into Schaeffler's global production network. Data generated in those deployments will flow into the Neuraverse, which NEURA describes as a global cognitive ecosystem that connects physical AI. Neither company disclosed financial terms, unit prices, the first deployment site or an interim delivery schedule.

On the hardware side, Schaeffler said it is developing planetary gear actuators for humanoid joints such as shoulders, elbows, knees and wrists, with torque ratings of up to 250 Nm. The company said the units are compact and light enough for continuous duty and allow NEURA's 4NE1 humanoid to handle heavy loads. Schaeffler added that it is also working with other humanoid manufacturers, which it did not name, so the supply relationship is not exclusive.

Andreas Schick, Schaeffler's chief operating officer, called humanoid robotics an important growth segment for the group and described NEURA as one of the most innovative companies in Europe. David Reger, NEURA's founder and chief executive, said the commitment from one of Germany's largest and most experienced industrial groups showed that companies have to push new technologies forward actively rather than wait for them to mature.

Schaeffler, founded in 1946 and headquartered in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, says it employs about 110,000 people at more than 250 locations in 55 countries. NEURA, founded in 2019, raised a EUR 120 million Series B in January 2025 led by Lingotto Investment Management, with Volvo Cars Tech Fund, Delta Electronics, HV Capital and Vsquared Ventures among the other investors. At that point NEURA said it held an order book of EUR 1 billion, employed more than 300 people and had grown revenue tenfold in a year. The company states a goal of five million cognitive and humanoid robots by 2030.

The deal puts a German industrial alongside the carmakers and suppliers that have been picking humanoid partners, and it highlights how thinly NEURA is capitalised next to its US rivals. Figure AI raised USD 1 billion in a Series C at a USD 39 billion post-money valuation in September 2025. Apptronik raised USD 350 million in a Series A in February 2025 and USD 53 million more in March. Agility Robotics' latest disclosed round is a USD 150 million Series B from April 2022, and 1X Technologies' is a USD 100 million Series B from January 2024. Among German robot companies, Agile Robots raised USD 220 million in a Series C in 2021.

A humanoid's joints are its most expensive and failure-prone parts. Each joint combines an electric motor, a gear stage that multiplies torque, bearings and position sensing in a housing that has to fit a human-sized limb. A planetary gearbox spreads load across several planet gears turning around a central sun gear, which yields high torque in a short, robust package that can tolerate shocks when a robot lifts or squats. Those are the precision mechanics, bearing and electric drive skills on which Schaeffler built its automotive business, which is why actuator makers with car-industry roots are moving into the robot supply chain.

For the global humanoid industry, the agreement is a test of whether the suppliers that built the combustion and electric drivetrain base can become the actuator base for robots. If Schaeffler qualifies its actuators in a robot it also runs in its own plants, it collects wear and failure data on its own components that a pure parts vendor would rarely see, and NEURA gets a reference customer whose factories span 55 countries.

The commitment also leaves much open. It runs for a decade and is expressed as an order of magnitude rather than a firm unit count. No price, plant, product generation or start date was disclosed, and NEURA has not published production volumes for 4NE1. Schaeffler's statement that it works with other humanoid makers means NEURA could face competition for the same deployments inside Schaeffler's network.

The next markers are concrete. Investors should look for the first Schaeffler plant named for 4NE1 work, a start date for actuator series production, the identity of Schaeffler's other humanoid partners, and NEURA's next financing round, which will show whether the offtake helps it close the funding gap with US competitors.