{"title":"NSK vs Schaeffler: Actuation compared","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/compare/nsk-vs-schaeffler","comparison":"Schaeffler ranks 10 on the Humanoids 100 with a score of 85; NSK ranks 14 with 83. NSK is ahead on commercials. Schaeffler is ahead on deployment. Level on production, progress, technology, positioning, firepower and leverage. NSK is based in Tokyo, Japan, Schaeffler in Herzogenaurach, Germany. NSK: Established. Schaeffler: Public, founded 1946. NSK is named in 17 signals and Schaeffler in 161.","companies":[{"name":"NSK","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/nsk","city":"Tokyo","country":"Japan","stage":"Established","founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"NSK is a Japanese bearing and actuation maker (TSE:6471) that established a Robotics Business Division in March 2026 and announced miniaturized rotary and linear actuators for humanoids, plus a February 2026 design win supplying a third-generation smart joint bearing module (with integrated torque and temperature sensing) to a leading North American humanoid robot company. Its agreed merger with NTN will create the world's largest bearing maker (~$11.1B combined revenue, closing 2027), with both companies naming physical-AI robots as the priority battleground, and it signed a Delta Electronics MOU (May 2026) for joint actuator modules. With more than 70 bearings per humanoid, this is a components-scale play against JTEKT, SKF, and IKO.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Humanoids","list":"Humanoids 100","rank":14,"score":83,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["technology","firepower"],"leverage":8,"position":8,"progress":10,"firepower":10,"commercial":10,"deployment":6,"production":8,"technology":8},"why":"NSK is contributing its precision-parts technology to the joint development and testing of humanoid robot components with Atom, including components relevant to robotic motion and actuation.","segment":"Actuation","layer":"Components"},"signals_total":17,"facts_total":14},{"name":"Schaeffler","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/schaeffler","city":"Herzogenaurach","country":"Germany","stage":"Public","founded":1946,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Schaeffler is a German motion-technology group (>EUR 22B) taking the most hedged position in the humanoid vertical, playing four roles at once: supplier to ~45 humanoid OEM programs (with first meaningful contracts secured, including a five-year Tier-1 actuator deal with Humanoid UK), buyer committed to two four-digit fleets (>=1,000 Hexagon AEON by 2032 and a four-digit Humanoid Alpha rollout, first units in German plants by end-2026), investor (a Neura Series C participant), and an Agility Digit customer. Mass production of humanoid components launches before end-2026, its component set spanning bearings, roller screws, reducers, motors, sensors, and actuators. Robotics is <1% of 2025 sales, yet the Schaeffler Effect has re-rated its stock as a humanoid proxy, with the CEO targeting an order book in the hundreds of millions of euros by 2030.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Humanoids","list":"Humanoids 100","rank":10,"score":85,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":8,"position":8,"progress":10,"firepower":10,"commercial":5,"deployment":9,"production":8,"technology":8},"why":"Schaeffler supplies actuator systems and motion-technology components for humanoid robots, including formed strain-wave gearboxes intended for humanoid joints.","segment":"Actuation","layer":"Components"},"signals_total":161,"facts_total":125}],"note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}