Physical AI's real story: a 4-layer map of 15 companies behind humanoid robots
pdamodaran · x · 2026-11-02
A Physical AI supply-chain map argues the real story isn't the humanoid on magazine covers but the companies making it move — just as Intel and Microsoft defined the PC era and ARM/TSMC/Qualcomm defined smartphones. It lays out 15 companies across four layers: Foundation (NVIDIA, Ambarella, Qualcomm, Nokia), Body (Nabtesco, Harmonic Drive, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Vicor — precision gears, edge vision, power delivery), Product (Intuitive Surgical, FANUC), and Invisible layer (Cadence, Synopsys, Cognex, BlackBerry QNX — tooling and safety certification).
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