From a growth rate of 29.1%, feel the surging momentum of intelligent manufacturing

In China's third quarterly economic report, one data is quite eye-catching: in the first three quarters, my country's industrial robot output increased by 29.1% year-on-year.

From 14.2% in 2024 to 28% in 2025, and then to 29.1% in the first three quarters of this year, the output of industrial robots has increased steadily, marking the accelerated growth of new productivity, and also reflecting the strong momentum of China's manufacturing transition to intelligence.

29.1%, coming from strong market demand.

In the Mengshi Automobile Assembly Workshop in Wuhan, Hubei Province, domestic heavy-duty robots are "on duty" to accurately complete the entire process of grabbing, transporting, and on-line operations. Not only is the manpower load reduced, but the pace of the vehicle off-line is also accelerated. In the welding workshop of Geely's Yiwu base, nearly a hundred large-load industrial robots cover more than 95% of the mainstream application processes of the automobile welding line, enabling flexible production with "zero pause" free switching of multiple models.

This is the epitome of the production line upgrades of manufacturing companies in the first three quarters: "Machine substitution" is not just a simple replacement of labor, but around rigid needs such as quality improvement and carbon reduction, using automated equipment to undertake new processes and new standards, and continuously releasing the demand for industrial robot procurement in the process of high-end, intelligent, and green transformation.

This 29.1% relies on the strong industrial ecological chain supply.

Since the beginning of this year, the workshop of Eston Robot Production Base in Nanjing, Jiangsu has been operating at full capacity. In the second quarter, the delivery volume of industrial robots exceeded 10,000 units, setting a new record for domestic industrial robot shipments. At Topstar, another robot manufacturer, the industrial robot and automation application system business has become the core engine driving the company's growth. In the first half of the year, approximately 6,800 industrial robot orders were signed and approximately 5,500 units were shipped. Related businesses achieved operating income growth of 121.62% year-on-year.

On the one hand, there are continuous breakthroughs in the independence of core components such as reducers, servo motors, and controllers. On the other hand, the supporting chain of complete machine research and development, process debugging, and after-sales operation and maintenance is increasingly improving. Relying on the strong supporting advantages of the industrial chain, the production capacity, quality, and delivery capabilities of domestic industrial robots are simultaneously strengthening. Domestic orders are full and exports continue to rise. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first nine months of this year, my country’s industrial robot exports increased by 16.9% year-on-year.

One is the strong demand for the upgrading and transformation of thousands of manufacturing workshops, and the other is the hard-core support of the increasingly mature local industrial chain. The demand side continues to expand and the supply side accumulates, supporting a brilliant growth rate of 29.1%.

We must also view the increase in output rationally. The competition in intelligent manufacturing is not simply quantity and scale, but independent controllability of core technologies, deep integration of scenarios, and system solution capabilities. At present, the industrial robot industry still faces challenges such as high-end scene adaptation and stability in complex working conditions, and industrial upgrading still takes a long time to complete.

Adhere to the drive of innovation, open up the closed loop of technological research, scenario implementation, and ecological cultivation, let more intelligent equipment take root in workshops, empower industries, and transform growth advantages into long-term competitive advantages. The track of industrial robots will continue to inject new momentum into high-quality economic development.