Working Robots: China Leads the Global Race

There are an estimated 4,664,000 working industrial robots in the world, according to the International Federation of Robotics. More than two million of them are in China. And don’t count on anyone catching up soon. According to the report, the country installed nearly 300,000 new robots last year, and was responsible for 54% of all robotic deployments across the globe in 2024. For comparison’s sake, the United States managed about one-tenth that figure, adding 34,000 industrial bots during the same time frame.

China’s robot boom coincides with the country taking on the role of a global manufacturing leader. According to the New York Times, China now holds just under one-third of all global manufacturing output, up from just 6% of the pie at the turn of the 21st century. That makes China’s current output bigger than the combined manufacturing power of the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Britain.

That gap seems likely to continue to widen. While China’s robotic installations increased year-over-year by about 7%, according to the International Federation of Robotics, the next-biggest robo-reliant nations all saw their total installations dip. Japan declined by 4%, the US dropped by 9%, South Korea slumped by 3%, and Germany slipped by 5%.

The IFR doesn’t see China’s automation adoption stopping any time soon, either. It projects the country will see an average of 10% growth annually through 2028, driven primarily by the introduction of industrial robotics into new markets. China’s biggest areas of growth in the last year included food and beverage, rubber and plastic, and textile production, whereas the United States continues to see robotics primarily applied to more traditional manufacturing fields like automotives.

Interestingly, while China’s robotics domination does appear driven in part by new technological developments like artificial intelligence, the country isn’t that into humanoid robots compared to other industrial forces. The New York Times attributed that to the fact that it’s difficult to build a humanoid bot entirely within the Chinese supply chain, where domestically made sensors and semiconductors can be harder to come by. Meanwhile, companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics keep promising humanoid industrial workers that’ll likely carry a steep price tag.

Maybe the biggest enabler of China’s robot boom, though, appears to be human labor. According to the Times, the country has produced a large workforce of skilled electricians and programmers who can install and maintain robots. America is slowly catching up on that front, with the employment of electricians booming—though there remains a massive programmer shortage unlikely to be eased by the fact that the Trump administration’s new, boosted fee for H1-B visa applicants will keep skilled labor overseas.