According to data from the International Federation of Robotics, Chinese companies installed 295,000 new industrial robots in China in 2024, accounting for 54% of the global total. Two years ago, China had over 2 million industrial robots in operation, approximately 4.5 times that of the second-place Japan. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, the revenue of China’s robotics industry exceeded 300 billion yuan (4.4 billion USD) last year, with an average annual growth rate of over 20% over five years. Industrial robot exports are expected to grow by 49% in 2025, making China a net exporter of industrial robots for the first time.

Chinese manufacturers now hold the majority share of the domestic industrial robot market, which was previously dominated by Fanuc, ABB, Yaskawa, and KUKA before 2024. BYD’s Xi’an factory operates thousands of automated robotic arms for electric vehicle assembly lines, with key components being nearly fully autonomous. The Yangshan Port in Shanghai has built the world’s largest automated terminal, almost entirely operated by automated guided vehicles and remotely controlled gantry cranes, with minimal human intervention. Regulatory authorities in Guangdong Province recently approved 48 “robot +” deployment scenarios covering manufacturing, logistics, and service sectors. The quadruped and humanoid robot company Yushu Technology went public last month, with its first-day trading valuation exceeding 1,200 times its past earnings.