At the third plenary session of the Central Committee, China has set a new course for the country’s economic policy: Beijing wants to use robots as a growth engine in the future in order to prepare for the new round of industrial transformation. China’s success story with industrial robots is unique: the country is by far the largest robot market in the world.
August 29, 2024, 08:29
“China’s rapid development in automation with industrial robots is extraordinary,” says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “The country’s operational stock exceeded the 1.5 million mark two years ago – an international record.” The installation of 290,258 industrial robots in 2022 alone corresponds to China’s 52% global market share.
Demand from various industries
To meet the high demand, domestic and foreign robot manufacturers set up production facilities in China and continuously expanded their capacities.
Huge investments in the automotive industry have boosted demand very strongly since 2010. China has become both the world’s largest car market and the world’s largest manufacturing base for cars – including electric cars – with strong growth potential. China is also a major manufacturer of electronic devices, batteries, semiconductors and microchips. Since 2016, the electrical and electronics industry has replaced the automotive industry as the main consumer and growth driver for industrial robots in China. In addition, various other industries are expanding their capacities with the help of advanced automation technology.
Robots as the new engine for growth
Currently, the Chinese domestic market is still the largest single market for Chinese robot manufacturers: “So far, the number of robots exported from China is very limited,” says Xiaogang Song, Managing Director and Secretary General of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA). “Chinese robots sold abroad have only been around for a few years. According to our statistics, the total number of robots exported is less than 5%.”
“In their search for new markets, Chinese robot companies go where there is demand for their products – just like any other company,” says Song.
Usually, Chinese robot companies establish their operations by working with local partners and hiring local employees. It will take time to build brand trust through increased technological levels and improved services to meet overseas market demands. In some areas, such as machine vision systems or AI applications, Chinese companies have advantages as they meet the requirements of accelerated automation in China’s manufacturing sectors. Low production costs or “low cost” are also among the main advantages of Chinese robots.
About China’s “Third Plenum”
The Chinese Central Committee convened the plenary session of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party from July 15 to 18, 2024, the so-called Third Plenum. It is a platform for the party leadership to announce important economic reforms and policy guidelines for China’s long-term social and economic progress.
About the IFR
The International Federation of Robotics is the voice of the global robotics industry. IFR represents national robot associations, research institutes and robot manufacturers from more than twenty countries. IFR was founded in 1987 as a non-profit organization. More at: www.ifr.org
The IFR Statistical Department provides industry data for the following statistical yearbooks:
World Robotics – Industrial Robots: This unique report provides worldwide statistics on industrial robots in standardized tables and enables meaningful country comparisons. It contains statistical data from around 40 countries, broken down by application areas, industrial sectors, robot types and other technical and economic aspects. Production, export and import data are listed for selected countries. Robot density, ie the number of robots per 10,000 employees, also provides a measure of the degree of automation.
World Robotics – Service Robots: This unique report describes marketable products, tasks, challenges and new developments in the application of service robots. The report contains the results of the annual IFR service robot survey on global sales of professional and private service robots as well as an industry structure analysis with a complete list of all service robot manufacturers known to the IFR. The study is being prepared jointly with the robotics experts at Fraunhofer IPA, Stuttgart.
The Drones PR portal contains news and reports from companies in the drone economy. The respective companies are responsible for the content of the press releases.
