IndustryWeek: The Robotics Supply Chain Already Has Winners and Losers
Robotics is often framed as a race to build better AI models, smarter autonomy and more capable humanoids. But the ability to scale robotics also depends on something less visible: the industrial supply chains beneath the intelligence stack.
In an IndustryWeek article, Nirman Ventures Managing Partner Nikhil Choudhary examines the critical chokepoints shaping the global robotics ecosystem — from precision motion components and AI compute to batteries and advanced manufacturing.
The central argument is simple: robotics leadership will not be determined by software alone. The countries and companies that control specialized engineering knowledge, manufacturing capacity and critical components may hold some of the most durable advantages as Physical AI moves from prototypes into widespread commercial deployment.
The article also looks at how the robotics stack is distributed globally, with different regions holding strength across AI compute, precision engineering, batteries and manufacturing. For investors and operators, this creates opportunities not only in the robots themselves, but across the enabling technologies required to build and deploy them at scale.
This perspective reflects a core part of Nirman’s thesis: the rise of Physical and Embodied AI will create value across the entire technology stack — from intelligence and autonomy to the hardware, infrastructure and supply chains that make real-world deployment possible.