China’s new growth strategy is supported by robots – IFR report

FRANKFURT, 29 August 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At its recent Third Plenum, China set the direction of its economic policy: Beijing wants to adapt to the new round of industrial transformation and use robots as a growth engine. China's success story with industrial robots is unique: the country is by far the largest robot market in the world.

“China's rapid development in industrial robot automation is extraordinary,” says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “The operational inventory exceeded 1.5 million units two years ago, making China the first and only country with such a large inventory of industrial robots.” The installation of 290,258 units in 2022 alone represents 52% of the global market.

Demand in various industries

To meet this demand, national and international robot suppliers have set up production facilities in China and continuously increased their capacities.

Massive investments in the automotive industry have boosted demand since 2010. China has become the world's largest car market and a major producer of electronic devices, batteries, semiconductors and microchips.

Robots as a new growth engine

Today, China's home market is still the largest single market for Chinese robot manufacturers: “So far, the number of robots exported from China is very small,” says Xiaogang Song, executive director and secretary general of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA). “Chinese robots have only been sold abroad for a few years. According to our statistics, the total number of robots exported is less than 5%.”

“Like any company looking for a new market, Chinese robot companies go where there is demand for their products,” Song says. Usually, Chinese robot companies set up their operations by working with local partners and hiring local staff. It will take time to build brand credibility by increasing technology levels and offering better services to meet the needs of foreign markets. In some areas, such as machine vision systems or AI applications, Chinese companies have advantages based on meeting the needs of accelerated automation in China's manufacturing sectors. Lower production costs or low costs are also one of the main advantages of Chinese robots.

Data from New World Robotics will be published by the IFR on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

FULL TEXT Press release: https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/chinas-new-growth-strategy-backed-by-robots

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