Meta and Fourier's Max Humanoid Robot: Just an ODM Collaboration for a Small Number of Prototypes

Summary: "It's not a large commercial order or a long-term joint development project—just a small number of prototypes given to Meta and AWS. It's a proactive investment of costs to win over big-name clients, and it's hard to see stable, sustained commercial revenue from it."

On November 1, according to The Information, Meta has jointly built a humanoid robot prototype called "Max" with the Chinese robotics company Fourier, with the two sides completing development in just three months, and a second-generation product, Max 2, has also been launched. The market interpreted this as yet another tech giant personally entering the humanoid robot hardware space, following Tesla's Optimus and Nvidia's GR00T.

Phoenix Technology learned from multiple industry sources a completely different version of events: the so-called "joint development" is essentially Fourier acting as the ODM (design and manufacturing) party. Besides Meta, Fourier also has a partnership with AWS (Amazon), both under the same model, and the cooperation covers only a few prototypes—"not a large commercial order or a long-term joint development project, just a small number of prototypes given to Meta and AWS. It's a proactive investment of costs to win over big-name clients, and it's hard to see stable, sustained commercial revenue from it."

According to reports, the prototype Max developed by Meta and Fourier is about 1.5 meters tall and weighs 48 kilograms, is equipped with Nvidia's Jetson Thor chip, features an expression display screen and five-fingered dexterous hands, and is currently used only for internal experiments with no mass-production timeline. In response to media inquiries, Fourier said it was "not convenient to reply for the time being," and its official line has remained silent throughout.

In fact, Meta's own statements also show that Meta's robotics strategy is still in an early research stage. Max is positioned as an internal experimental prototype, and there is no clear timeline for a consumer-facing mass-produced version. On the hardware side, Meta has no plans to build its own production lines; using the mature supply chains and hardware design capabilities of Chinese robotics companies to complete rapid prototype validation is the lowest-cost path. Fourier's role is closer to that of a hardware solutions supplier willing to trade its own engineering resources for the logo of a Silicon Valley giant.

Public information shows that Fourier was founded in 2015, starting out in medical rehabilitation robots, entered general-purpose humanoid robots in 2019, launched the GR-1 in 2023, and has since iterated to the GR-2 and GR-3. In the two years during which embodied intelligence became the most crowded track in the primary market, Fourier, with its early hardware accumulation and its foundation of deployment in rehabilitation scenarios, was once regarded as one of the representatives of Chinese humanoid robot hardware companies. In early 2025, the company completed nearly 800 million yuan in Series E financing, with investors including Shanghai state-owned institutions such as Pudong Venture Capital and Zhangjiang Science and Technology Investment.

An investment industry source told Phoenix Technology that Fourier's original plan was to complete its shareholding reform before the IPO exit channel was in place—"institutions and original shareholders are all waiting for the IPO channel to be in place so they can cash out," said a person close to Fourier.

In addition, the person said, "Fourier is currently under considerable financial pressure, and some R&D staff have been laid off."

From an industry perspective, the funding tap for the embodied intelligence primary market is tightening. Phoenix Technology learned from multiple practitioners in the embodied intelligence industry that the primary market has recently suspended investment in the embodied intelligence track, mainly because institutions have begun to prudently assess the feasibility of investing in projects without major technological breakthroughs.

Unlike other embodied intelligence projects, Fourier was founded in 2015, which means its investors already have clear expectations for an exit. Robotics companies founded around the same period include UBTech (2012), Unitree Robotics (2016), Deep Robotics (2017), and Leju Robotics (2016). Currently, both Unitree Robotics and UBTech have completed listings, while Deep Robotics' STAR Market IPO application was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on May 18, 2026, with CITIC Securities as the sponsor, planning to raise about 2.503 billion yuan. According to public information from early October 2026, its review status has been updated to "under inquiry." Leju Intelligent's ChiNext IPO application was accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on May 19, 2026, planning to raise 2.6 billion yuan.

According to public information, Fourier has currently completed its shareholding reform but has not yet formally submitted a prospectus, nor has it entered the coaching and filing stage. This is a clear gap compared with the pace of Unitree, Deep Robotics, and Leju, which have already entered the exchange acceptance or inquiry stage.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Phoenix Technology," author: Phoenix Technology, published by 36Kr with authorization.