China Maintains World's Largest Industrial Robot Market for 12 Consecutive Years

Release time:

2025-08-08


On August 3, according to the 2025 World Robot Conference press release, China's industrial robot market sales reached 302,000 units in 2024, maintaining its position as the world's largest industrial robot market for 12 consecutive years.In 2024, China accounted for two-thirds of global robotics patent applications, according to the report.

 

In industrial development, China remains the world's top robot producer, with industrial robot output surging from 33,000 units in 2015 to 556,000 in 2024, while service robot production reached 10.519 million units, up 34.3% year-on-year.

 

Beijing and Shanghai have established national-local collaborative innovation centers for embodied AI robots and humanoid robots, respectively. Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Guangdong, and Sichuan have also set up provincial-level robotics innovation centers to pool regional industrial strengths and promote technology sharing and joint R&D.

 

Robot OEMs are driving industrial synergy, fostering collaborative development across the supply chain from upstream components to downstream applications. Core components like precision reducers, high-performance servo drives, and smart controllers – once heavily import-dependent a decade ago – now boast diverse domestic product portfolios.

 

In application scenarios, industrial robots have been deployed across 71 major and 236 sub-categories of China's national economic sectors, with manufacturing robot density ranking third globally.Service robots have achieved significant penetration in household services, warehouse logistics, commercial services, elderly/disabled care, and medical rehabilitation.According to IDC data, Chinese manufacturers dominated the global commercial service robot market in 2024, accounting for 84.7% of total shipments with significant scale advantages.

 

"Humanoid robots represent the deep integration of AI and robotics, serving as the advanced form of robots and an ideal platform for embodied intelligence," said Xu Xiaolan, President of the Chinese Institute of Electronics. "Breakthroughs in core technologies like robotic foundation models, intelligent cooperative control, human-robot interaction, and multimodal perception have significantly enhanced mobility. Through optimized AI control algorithms, domestic robots now achieve millisecond-level motion response with continuously improved stability, flexibility, and motion coherence."

 

Notably, China's humanoid robots have achieved major breakthroughs in mobility and dexterity, placing them firmly within the global first tier.

 

"As an integration of chips, sensors, AI, mechanics, and advanced materials, humanoid robots are poised to become the next disruptive innovation after computers, smartphones, and NEVs," stated Xu Xiaolan. She emphasized their potential applications in domestic services, manufacturing, logistics, border security, and education/healthcare – driving new consumption, industries, employment, and accelerating next-generation productivity growth.

 

Citation: China Electronic Components Association.

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