While much of Wall Street remains fixated on artificial intelligence data centers, Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra dropped a bolder projection during the company’s third-quarter earnings call: humanoid robots represent a larger opportunity. He framed the moment as the beginning of a multi-decade memory demand cycle and hinted that if the trend plays out as he expects, it could offer a rare second chance for investors who missed the AI rally.
Robotics has long since moved beyond science fiction. Today, robots are deeply embedded in manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and agriculture. GlobalData forecasts the global robotics market will surge from $76 billion in 2023 to $218 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 14%. Against that backdrop, here are five stocks and two exchange-traded funds that form a compelling investment map for the long-term theme.
As the foundational building block of semiconductors, Nvidia’s advanced circuitry powers everything from high-end computing to factory robotics. CEO Jensen Huang sees robotics as the company’s second-largest growth opportunity after AI, asserting that “every industrial company will become a robotics company.” Nvidia is working with multiple humanoid robot makers across the U.S., Europe and Asia, with its Blackwell chips serving as the computing brains. In June 2026, the company unveiled Halos, a full-stack safety system for robotics that combines software, embedded systems, sensors and silicon, creating a safety ecosystem purpose-built for large-scale deployment of humanoid robots in factories, warehouses and logistics.
A pioneer in robotic-assisted surgery, Intuitive Surgical has expanded its da Vinci system globally since its commercial debut in 2000. The robots enable more precise procedures, dramatically improving patient outcomes and shortening recovery times. More than two decades later, the company remains in growth mode — the vast majority of daily surgeries still do not use robotic assistance, leaving enormous room to expand into new procedures. Its business model generates recurring revenue from disposable instruments, services and support once a system is installed, making it a durable long-term play in healthcare technology.
Tesla is rapidly pivoting from an electric-vehicle maker to an AI and robotics powerhouse. The company plans to invest $25 billion in robotics, chips and AI in 2026 — triple its 2025 spending and $5 billion more than its initial projection. That same year, Tesla stopped producing the Model S sedan and Model X crossover, clearing factory space at its Fremont plant to build an Optimus humanoid robot manufacturing site. It aims to begin selling Optimus robots to the public by the end of 2027. CEO Elon Musk believes Optimus will soon become Tesla’s most important product, predicting that robots could eventually push the company’s valuation to $25 trillion, with 80% of that value derived from robotics.
A leader in industrial-grade technology, Rockwell’s systems, components and software help manufacturers build smarter, more efficient machines across energy, chemical, food and beverage, and automotive sectors. As the world’s largest pure-play industrial automation company, it is seeing strong demand for intelligent devices. Sales in that segment hit $1 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 13% year-over-year, fueled by growing adoption of autonomous mobile robots in automotive, food and beverage, home and personal care, and data center applications.
A longtime player in automation, Zebra develops mobile computing devices that streamline workflows in retail, warehousing, healthcare and banking. In April 2026, its venture capital arm, Zebra Ventures, made a strategic investment in Apera AI, a provider of 4D vision for industrial robots, further strengthening its automation push.
For investors seeking one-click exposure without picking individual winners, two thematic ETFs offer a clear path.
This fund is built to capture the global robotics market, which was valued at $108 billion at the end of 2025 and is projected by Precedence Research to nearly quadruple to $416 billion by 2035. With a 0.68% expense ratio, BOTZ has gained 14% over the past year. It offers true international diversification: only three of the top ten holdings are U.S. companies, while Japanese and Chinese firms account for roughly half the portfolio. Top positions include ABB and Nvidia. Portfolio manager Nam To has a personal stake in the fund of up to $50,000. The fund highlights humanoid robots as a potential answer to labor shortages and aging demographics — a scenario that could help it consistently outperform the S&P 500.
Billed as the world’s first generative AI ETF, CHAT is heavily weighted toward chipmakers, with Alphabet, Nvidia and Broadcom among its top holdings and the top ten positions making up more than 40% of the portfolio. The actively managed fund carries a 0.75% expense ratio but has delivered an annualized return of 48.8% over the past three years, crushing the S&P 500 and outpacing well-known tech ETFs like the Vanguard Information Technology ETF. The fund views ChatGPT’s rapid rise to 100 million users as a signal of generative AI’s vast potential and is positioned to benefit when humanoid robots go mainstream. “Roundhill believes that generative artificial intelligence will be one of the most impactful technological innovations of the coming decades, driving productivity growth across the global economy,” the firm states in its fund overview.
