China's industry undergoing AI transformation

"The draft 15th Five-Year Plan of the People's Republic of China serves as the primary framework document that sets the overarching direction for all other government policies," says Takayuki Ito, President of the International Federation of Robotics. "Thousands of subordinate sectoral and regional plans are now committed to align with the goals. Under the new framework, China is shifting its focus from traditional industrial automation to high-end intelligent robotics equipment integrated with artificial intelligence."

Humanoid robot show

In addition to industrial applications, China is also focusing on high-profile demonstrations of humanoid robots to showcase progress and international competitiveness in "embodied intelligence". For example, such systems presented themselves dancing at the globally broadcast Lunar New Year celebrations or running in the humanoid robot half marathon in Beijing. Despite these impressive displays, their practical use has so far been limited: In real production environments, humanoid robots are currently only used in demonstrators or pilot projects.

Compared to humanoid systems, classic industrial robots remain superior due to their specialization, speed and precision and will continue to form the backbone of production. Humanoid robots, on the other hand, are more likely to be used in service areas. Humanoid robots are not expected to be widely used in the short term. In the next five to ten years, the focus will be on integrating AI into existing industrial robotics.

China's domestic market potential

China's huge domestic market offers enormous potential to implement the five-year plan in various industries: The share of local suppliers in domestic industrial robot installations increased from 30% in 2020 to 57% in 2024. 64% of industrial robots are installed in the global electronics industry in China. Chinese manufacturers supply 59% of this industry. In the metal and machinery industry, Chinese robot suppliers even achieved a domestic market share of 85%.