China reached a record brand of 2.02 million robots working on its factories in 2024, a stock more than four times larger than the second country with the most industrial robots, Japan, with 450,000 units, which still exceeds the sum of the other nine largest global markets. The figures are reported by the International Federation of Robotics.
In addition to having a higher stock than competitors, China has a much stronger pace of new facilities and walks to further increase the advantage in this statistic. Last year, 295,000 units were installed in Chinese factories against 44,500 in Japan and 34,200 in the United States, totaling 393,000 robots.
In recent years, in addition to double the presence of robots in its factories, China has also invested in the production of these machines. The result was that in 2024, for the first time, most robots installed in Chinese factories were produced locally.
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The investment in robotics shows the success of the Made in China 2025 campaign, launched in 2015 by the Chinese government to reduce the importation of more sophisticated manufactured products. As part of the plan, factories had state incentives such as access to low interest loans and support in the acquisition of foreign competitors.
The sector that has been standing out in the use of robots in China is the general industry, which encompasses food, wood and furniture, textile and rubber and plastic industry. The segment grew 15% from 2023 to 2024 and surpassed the electronics industry and the automotive sector.
