According to the French "Les Echos" website reported on January 10, China is leading the global factory robot sprint.
According to the report, older workers and higher production costs are the dual factors that prompt Chinese companies to accelerate the development of automation and robotics. In a research report published last year, Citibank said: "The situation is similar to Japan a few decades ago and South Korea many years later. China recognizes the urgency."
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"Against this backdrop, China's manufacturing sector urgently needs to improve its competitiveness, either by increasing factory automation to reduce overall production costs, or by shifting to higher-precision, more customized high-end products," explained analysts at Citibank Group.
From 2011 to 2020, deliveries of industrial robots in China will grow by an average of 27 percent per year, much faster than the global (12 percent) and Japan (6 percent) growth rates. "However, robot density in China is still much lower than in Japan, South Korea and Germany, which means there is significant growth potential for industrial robots in China," Citibank Group noted.
The robotization of Chinese industry is progressing at a rapid pace. According to the International Federation of Robotics, in 2022, China installed more than 290,000 industrial robots, six times that of Japan, seven times that of the United States, 12 times that of Germany and 40 times that of France. Last year, China alone installed more than half of the world's new industrial robots. There are currently more than 1.5 million robots in operation in Chinese factories, twice as many as in Europe. The electronics and electrical industry is the largest customer (one-third of the robots installed), with China's automotive industry in second place.
The reason why China is accelerating the process of factory automation is that the modernization of the "factory of the world" is also taking place in the context of a changing economic and social environment: China is no longer primarily dependent on a growing labor force to stimulate economic growth. Young Chinese are becoming more educated, and their willingness to work in factories is changing.
In the long run, robotization is also part of an effort to "nationalize" the value chain, reducing reliance on foreign technology, especially U.S. technology.
According to the report, China has listed industrial robots and advanced production solutions as priority development areas, on an equal footing with the semiconductor industry. China is looking to move upmarket, catch up and achieve a degree of strategic and industrial autonomy. The task is not simple. While the proportion of Chinese-made robots used in Chinese factories has doubled between 2015 and 2022 (from 17.5% to 36%), the race is not over yet.
