Qualcomm Stakes Its $1 Trillion Claim at CES 2026 with the VinMotion 2

Las Vegas — Qualcomm and VinMotion, the robotics arm of Vietnam’s Vingroup, have used CES 2026 to launch a high-stakes bid for the future of the factory floor. The debut of the "Motion 2" humanoid robot represents more than just a new piece of hardware; it is the most aggressive pivot yet by the San Diego chip giant to dominate "physical AI." By positioning itself as the primary architect for the robotics sector, Qualcomm is chasing a market it projects will balloon to $1 trillion by 2040, setting up a direct confrontation with NVIDIA’s established dominance in the space.

The Dragonwing IQ10: Silicon for a Post-Mobile World

The technical foundation of this shift is the Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ10 Series, an 18-core robotics processor that abandons the mobile-first philosophy of its predecessors. Unlike the repurposed smartphone chips of the early 2020s, the IQ10 is a ground-up architecture designed to manage the massive, concurrent data streams required for full-scale humanoid locomotion and environmental awareness. This "compound AI" stack integrates hardware and software to ensure that perception and action happen with millisecond latency—a necessity for robots operating alongside human workers.

This release marks a fundamental challenge to NVIDIA’s Isaac platform. While NVIDIA has long owned the simulation and training side of robotics, Qualcomm is banking on its expertise in low-power, high-efficiency edge computing to win the actual deployment phase. The goal is to move beyond experimental lab prototypes and into "physical AI" machines that can survive a 12-hour shift on a single charge while maintaining industrial-grade reliability.

VinMotion and the Logistics of Power

The Motion 2 robot is Vingroup’s gamble that it can move from being a regional manufacturing hub to a global robotics powerhouse. Built in the same Vietnamese facilities that churn out consumer electronics for global brands, the Motion 2 is designed for the grit of heavy industry. During the CES demonstration, the robot performed a series of crouching maneuvers and, in a moment of pure showmanship, punched through a wooden plank to showcase its torque.

However, the Las Vegas theater masks the real engineering hurdle: precision. While the wood-punching drew gasps, the true test for factory managers will be whether the Motion 2 can transition from brute force to the delicate, repetitive accuracy required for assembly line integration. Vingroup isn’t just providing the "brawn" for Qualcomm’s chips; they are testing whether a general-purpose humanoid can actually outperform specialized, stationary robotic arms in a cost-benefit analysis.

This partnership was accelerated by a massive talent grab in early 2025, when Qualcomm acquired MovianAI—a generative AI division of Vingroup’s VinAI—for $67 million. That deal was less about patents and more about a "brain drain" of elite researchers, specifically Dr. Hung Bui and his team. Bui’s group was credited with solving the "predictive stumble" problem—the lag between a robot’s sensor detecting an obstacle and its motors reacting—which had previously limited humanoids to slow, tentative movements.

Scaling the Humanoid Architecture

Qualcomm’s strategy hinges on creating a cohesive ecosystem rather than a walled garden. In Las Vegas, the company demonstrated that it isn't just a supplier to VinMotion, but the conductor of a broader industrial symphony. This includes deep integration with Figure, which is currently refining the compute architecture for home-based humanoids, and Booster Robotics, whose K1 Geek platform is pushing the limits of edge AI.

The synergy extends to the supply chain through Advantech, which is now shipping development kits that allow smaller firms to build on the Dragonwing platform without the billion-dollar R&D budget of a tech titan. Meanwhile, the presence of Kuka Robotics in this ecosystem suggests a bridge between the old guard of industrial arms and the new world of mobile, autonomous humanoids.

By offering a full-stack solution—encompassing the IQ10 silicon, teleoperation tools, and the "AI flywheels" needed to train machines—Qualcomm is attempting to commoditize the complexity of robotics. As manufacturing hubs like Vietnam seek to climb the value chain, the success of the Motion 2 will serve as a litmus test. If Qualcomm can prove that its "brains" make these machines reliable enough for the floor and cheap enough for the balance sheet, the era of the experimental humanoid is officially over.