Building a New Ecosystem for Lightweight Joint Solutions in Humanoid Robots

On August 14, Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE), a global specialty materials and chemical company and a leading supplier of high performance engineering plastics, and VIGOR Precision Ltd., a global leader in precision plastic gears and components manufacturing, signed a strategic partnership agreement at the Celanese Shanghai Commercial and Technology Center to advance the development and commercialization of lightweight plastic joint solutions for humanoid robots.

Based on the agreement, Celanese is to provide VIGOR with targeted high-performance plastic materials and comprehensive technical support, advancing the independent control and industrialization of materials for high-end core components in robotic applications. Key executives from both companies attended the signing ceremony to witness this significant milestone, including VIGOR CEO Hoi-sang Chan and Todd Elliott, Senior Vice President, Engineered Materials, at Celanese.

Addressing Industry Pain Points: Replacing Steel with High-Performance Plastics to Redefine Robotic Motion Performance

With the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence, humanoid robotics have been gaining more traction in commercial applications. However, the weight of traditional metal joint modules severely limits operational endurance, dynamic response speed, and load-bearing capabilities of humanoid robots.

As an industry leader with over 40 years of expertise in precision plastic transmission systems, VIGOR has been dedicated to the research and development of high-precision plastic gears and components since its founding in 1982. Through the strategic partnership with Celanese, VIGOR has defined its core R&D objective for next-generation plastic joints for humanoid robots: reducing the weight of joint modules by more than 30 percent by replacing traditional metals with high-performance plastics, while ensuring transmission precision and long-term reliability.

Focus on Core Technology: Stringent Metrics Define Next-Generation Material Standards

Humanoid robot joints place extreme demands on the overall performance of materials during high-speed starts and stops, high-frequency reciprocating motion, and complex loading conditions. Based on the technical consensus between the companies, the partnership is committed to focusing on overcoming the core technical challenges related to high strength and high rigidity, exceptional temperature resistance and thermal stability, precision transmission and self-lubricating properties, and extreme lightweighting and dimensional accuracy.

Deep Integration: End-to-End Support from Material Selection to Mass Production

The agreement marks not only the establishment of a supplier-customer relationship but also represents deep technical integration across the entire industrial value chain. Celanese has agreed to provide customized material solutions aligned with VIGOR’s technical specifications, supporting targeted material commercialization, full lifecycle validation and consistent performance at mass production scale.

Hoi-sang Chan, CEO of VIGOR, stated at the signing ceremony: "VIGOR possesses deep technical expertise in precision plastic molding, while Celanese is a global leader in high-performance materials science. Today’s partnership marks a crucial step in infusing ‘material genetics’ into ‘precision manufacturing.’ We look forward to working closely together to achieve the precise formulation of high-performance materials for robotic joints, thereby clearing the way for the large-scale deployment of humanoid robots."

"Robotics is an increasingly important growth area for engineered materials, with customers seeking compact, durable, lightweight and low-noise solutions that can perform reliably in demanding applications," said Todd Elliott, Senior Vice President, Celanese Engineered Materials. "Through this partnership, we can bring Celanese materials science, application development and local technical capabilities together with VIGOR’s precision gear design and manufacturing expertise to help enable the next generation of robotic motion systems."

The strategic partnership between VIGOR and Celanese marks a solid step forward in lightweighting core components for humanoid robots by replacing steel with high-performance plastic. Moving forward, the two companies intend to continue to deepen their collaborative innovation and accelerate the commercialization of high-performance plastic joint solutions for industrial, commercial and specialized service robotics applications.

To explore detailed product information at Celanese, visit https://askchemille.com.

For more information on VIGOR’s product offerings, please visit https://www.vigorprecision.com/.

About Celanese

Celanese is a global leader in chemistry, producing specialty material solutions used across most major industries and consumer applications. Our businesses use our chemistry, technology and commercial expertise to create value for our customers, employees and shareholders. We support sustainability by responsibly managing the materials we create and growing our portfolio of sustainable products to meet customer and societal demand. We strive to make a positive impact in our communities and to foster inclusivity across our teams. Celanese Corporation is a Fortune 500 company that employs more than 11,000 employees worldwide with 2025 net sales of $9.5 billion.

About VIGOR

Vigor Precision Ltd. specializes in the design and production of high precision plastic gears and plastic components. With headquarters in Hong Kong and manufacturing facilities in mainland China, Vigor has approximately 3,000 employees in its operations across four different factories in Dongguan, with a production area of 230,000 m². Vigor advocates for original innovation, integrated innovation and self-dependent innovation vigorously. Vigor is among the drafting committee of the plastic gear national standard GB/T 38192-2019, and also a member of AGMA and CGMA. In steady development, Vigor continues to enhance its comprehensive competitiveness.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain "forward-looking statements," which include information concerning Celanese’s plans, objectives, goals, strategies, financial condition, and other information that is not historical information. When used in this release, the words "projects," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "believes," "will," and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and beliefs and various assumptions. There can be no assurance that Celanese will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will prove correct. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. Numerous factors, many of which are beyond Celanese’s control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed as forward-looking statements. These factors include those that are discussed in Celanese’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and Celanese undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances.

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Celanese Contacts:

Investor Relations

Bill Cunningham

+1 972 443 4730

william.cunningham@celanese.com

Media Relations – Global

Jamaison Schuler

+1 972 443 4400

media@celanese.com

Media Relations – Asia

Maria Xia

+86 21 3861 9368

maria.xia@celanese.com

VIGOR Media Contact:

Ping Liu

liuping@vigorgear.com