The march of Chinese robots into domestic factories

BEIJING - Chinese industrial robot manufacturers are gearing up to challenge the long-established dominance of global giants by taking advantage of expanding demand from China’s booming domestic electronics industry and the need to upgrade manufacturing.

The domestic share of industrial robots in China doubled from 17.5 per cent in 2015 to 35.5 per cent in 2022, according to MIR Databank. The growth of Chinese robot companies accelerated significantly over the past few years, partly due to supply chain disruptions that made it harder to access foreign products and partly because of a growing need for automation in small and midsized manufacturing companies amid pandemic-era labour shortages.