Neodymium-iron-boron is widely used in drive motors for various types of robot joints. With the highest magnetic energy product among currently available commercial magnetic materials and an excellent cost-performance ratio, it has become the preferred permanent magnet for robotic servo systems. In the joint drives of industrial and humanoid robots, high-performance neodymium-iron-boron magnets enable servo motors to be miniaturized and lightweight while delivering high torque and rapid response, meeting the requirements for flexible robotic motion.
According to statistics, in a typical robot cost structure, servo motors account for approximately 20% of the total cost, and the cost of permanent magnets within these servo motors accounts for nearly half of that. It is evident that neodymium-iron-boron magnets are not only central to performance but also a significant component of robot hardware costs.
Actual application data indicates that demand for neodymium-iron-boron magnets in robotics is rising rapidly. Each humanoid robot typically incorporates dozens of motors: Tesla’s Optimus prototype features over 28 degrees of freedom, while Xiaomi’s humanoid robot has 21 degrees of freedom; a single humanoid robot may use no fewer than 40 motors.
It is estimated that each humanoid robot requires approximately 4 kilograms of neodymium-iron-boron magnets, while each large industrial robot requires about 25 kilograms. Based on these figures, the annual demand for neodymium-iron-boron magnets in the robotics sector alone is projected to reach approximately 21,300 metric tons by 2025 (with industrial robots accounting for about 17,300 metric tons and humanoid robots for about 4,000 metric tons). Another securities firm’s analysis also indicates that, under an optimistic scenario, global demand for high-performance neodymium-iron-boron magnets in the robotics industry could reach 61,000 metric tons by 2025, with a market size exceeding 30 billion yuan. These figures confirm that the robotics industry—particularly humanoid robots—is emerging as a new driving force behind demand for neodymium-iron-boron magnets.
Currently, neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet materials dominate the magnetic materials market. As the world’s largest producer of rare-earth magnet materials, China’s output of sintered neodymium-iron-boron accounts for approximately 95% of the country’s total rare-earth permanent magnet production, while bonded neodymium-iron-boron and samarium-cobalt magnets account for only 4% and 1%, respectively.
With magnetic properties approximately twice as strong as those of samarium-cobalt and a lower cost, neodymium-iron-boron meets the demands of large-scale industrial applications and has become the most widely produced and used rare-earth permanent magnet material. In robotic joint motors, gearmotors, and various types of servo motors, neodymium-iron-boron magnets play a key role in generating the drive magnetic field due to their strong magnetic force and cost-effectiveness.
Several leading magnetic materials companies have explicitly identified humanoid robots as a new market direction and are actively expanding their production capacity for high-performance neodymium-iron-boron magnets. It is foreseeable that, as the robotics industry expands, the proportion of neodymium-iron-boron magnets used in this sector will continue to rise.
