The sales volume of industrial robots in the Chinese market accounts for more than 50% of the global total, and the market share of domestic brands continues to rise

The " Robot +" Application Action Implementation Plan recently issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and 17 other departments pointed out the need to deepen the application of "Robot+" in key areas.

It is proposed that by 2025, we will focus on 10 key application areas, break through more than 100 innovative application technologies and solutions for robots, promote more than 200 typical application scenarios of robots with high technical level, innovative application models and remarkable application results, and create a group of "robot +" application benchmark enterprises.

The previous "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Robot Industry" shows that by 2025, the average annual growth rate of the robot industry's revenue will exceed 20%, and the density of robots in the manufacturing industry will double. Data shows that in 2020, the density of robots in my country's manufacturing industry was 246 units per 10,000 people, which means that by 2025 it will reach about 500 units per 10,000 people, and the market space is very huge.

Emerging industries are Industrial robots Main areas of shipment

According to statistics, the sales volume of industrial robots in the Chinese market in 2022 exceeded 300,000 units, accounting for more than 50% of the global sales. It is not easy to achieve such results under the severe impact of the epidemic.

From the perspective of application industries, the demand for new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, semiconductors, medical and other emerging industries is mainly driven by demand. The new energy explosion trend remains unabated, and the market production and sales are booming. Major well-known new energy vehicle companies are expanding their production capacity, which has driven the market demand for lithium batteries. According to statistics, the shipment volume of new energy vehicles and industrial robots in emerging industries accounts for more than 40% of the overall market.

Over the past year, the 3C electronics industry has performed poorly, with electronic products such as mobile phones in a high inventory state. The reduction in demand has forced manufacturers to frequently cut orders, and the demand for industrial robots has shrunk significantly. General industry has also been affected by the sluggish macroeconomic environment, rising commodity prices, and poor supply chains. Although there has been some recovery, it has not been as good as expected.

During the Spring Festival this year, the sales revenue of consumer-related industries nationwide increased by 12.2% year-on-year, and both offline and online consumption have improved significantly. The market is optimistic about the recovery of the consumer electronics market, the inventory on the supply side has gradually decreased, and the shipments of related industrial robots have also increased. However, judging from the current market, whether it has really bottomed out and rebounded still needs to be verified.

In 2023, with the full relaxation of the epidemic, the overall market recovery trend is obvious. As a key product to promote industrial upgrading, the long-term positive trend of the market for industrial robots has not changed. It will maintain double-digit growth in the next few years. Among them, the new energy vehicle industry will undoubtedly have the greatest demand.

According to the data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2022, my country's new energy vehicles continued to grow explosively, with annual sales exceeding 6.8 million vehicles and a market share of 25.6%, gradually entering a period of comprehensive market expansion, and plans to increase to 50% by 2035. Not only China, but also the United States has proposed to reach a penetration rate of 50% by 2035, and the European Union is more radical, expecting to increase it to 100% by 2035 and stop selling all fuel vehicles and hybrid vehicles.

Although new energy vehicles are similar to fuel vehicles, they also have many different processes and a higher degree of automation than fuel vehicles, which means that new new energy vehicle production lines need to be built or old production lines need to be renovated and expanded on a large scale, which will bring about huge demand for industrial robots.

Domestic robot market share continues to rise

After years of development, my country's robotics industry has basically formed a full industrial chain system from parts to complete machines to integrated applications. The innovation of core technologies and key parts has been orderly promoted. Domestic robots have reached a turning point and are expected to gradually move from copying and following to technological leadership, and from domestic substitution to overseas expansion.

In the past year, domestic manufacturers have relied on their supply chain advantages and flexible pricing strategies to accelerate their penetration into the fields of lithium batteries, photovoltaics, semiconductors, and auto parts. At the same time, relying on their local advantages, they have gradually expanded more new application areas in the downstream of the industry and explored a broader incremental market space, further expanding the market share of domestic robots.

However, due to the impact of the epidemic, foreign manufacturers' supply chains were blocked and the supply cycle was greatly lengthened, failing to match market demand in a timely manner. Their market share gradually shrank. It was only recently that the situation improved and production and delivery gradually resumed.

It is for this reason that foreign manufacturers are accelerating the localization process of robots. In December last year, ABB's robot super factory in Shanghai was officially opened. In the future, 90% of China's industrial robot orders will be produced here; FANUC's super smart factory in Baoshan District, Shanghai has also taken shape and is expected to be completed and put into production within the year, which will greatly enhance delivery capabilities.

As the localization process of foreign brands from supply chain, R&D to production deepens further, the localization advantages and cost control advantages of domestic manufacturers will also be weakened. Therefore, if domestic robots want to maintain their competitiveness, they need to improve their technological barriers, continuously optimize the quality of robot products, and accelerate the pace of catching up with overseas industrial robot brands.