What Americans Do in Shenzhen, Where Humanoid Value Is Accruing | FAIR Plus, Jasmine Bai

FAIR Plus is a Shenzhen exhibition built for robot developers rather than buyers. In 2026, they hosted 400+ exhibitors, 60,000 visitors, roughly 3,000 of them international from 100 countries. Components held 70% of the floor, full robots 20% to 25%. A surprising metric: the US was the top source of international visitors, in the market where the show had the weakest promotional footprint. Jasmine Bai runs international development for FAIR Plus. She observed that Europeans arrive having already concluded they need a hardware supply-chain partner. Southeast Asian buyers come for finished robots to resell at home. Americans, so far, come to look. We discussed types of visitors that go to Shenzhen for supply chain partnerships, trends in localization and SCHUNK’s example in setting up an R&D center from Stuttgart to Shenzhen, why Germany's industrial-robotics depth transfers unevenly to humanoids. Guest: Jasmine Bai, Vice General Manager, FAIR Plus About Core Matter: Core Matter is a research house for the Physical AI value chain. We publish long-form reports run on primary sources: filings, datasheets, factory-floor sourcing. For the show, we interview top founders and operators building the Physical AI stack. The interview series captures the gap between demo videos and deployment reality. Episodes are filmed with operators globally, in Shenzhen, San Francisco, Tokyo, and beyond. Subscribe to Core Matter, research on Physical AI value chain corematter.substack.com 00:00 - Intro 01:41 - The strategic focus on robotic research and industry partnerships 03:03 - Surprising trends: American visitors' prominence in China 04:45 - Regional motivations: Europe, Southeast Asia, and the US 06:52 - Insights into American visitor behavior and industry development 09:33 - The platform’s role in supporting robot developers and tech exchanges 12:07 - Types of visitors: universities, startups, and corporate innovators 13:36 - Academic researchers and their role in commercial robotics 14:34 - Trends in localization: German companies establishing R&D in Shenzhen 17:15 - Future directions: humanoid robots and industry adoption 19:14 - Popular sessions on collaborative research and supply chain innovation 22:23 - The increasingly unavoidable need to collaborate with China 23:17 - Notable exhibitors shaping future industry trends 24:23 - The open and collaborative industry environment fostered by companies like Siemens Resources & Links Fair Plus Official Website: https://fairplus.cn/en/about-fairplus/ Siemens Robotics: https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/automation/topic-areas/robotics.html Science Robotics Journal: https://www.sciencemag.org/journals/robotics Schunk Group: https://schunk.com