In today’s era of rapid technological development, China’s automation equipment industry is facing unprecedented development opportunities.
In April 2026, China exported 25,000 industrial robots in a single month, which accounted for one-third of the total exports in 2022. The industry growth rate far exceeded the previous predictions of most institutions, reaching more than twice.
Foreign brands once dominated China’s industrial robot market.
In 2020, foreign brands accounted for more than 71%, while domestic brands accounted for less than 29%.
However, in just five years, the situation has undergone a huge reversal.
By 2025, the market share of local brands will jump to 55%, achieving overtake of international giants. Today, for every 10 new industrial robots sold in the country, more than 5 are domestic brands.
The core support for this reversal lies in the independent breakthrough of core components.
In 2025, the harmonic reducer leader Green’s harmonics sold 425,200 units throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 72.48%, with a global market share of 26% and a domestic market share of more than 60%.
In the same year, Eston ranked first in China’s industrial robot shipments with a share of 10.6%. Chinese brands accounted for 6 of the top ten manufacturers in the domestic market. The total share of leading domestic-funded enterprises reached 35.8%, historically surpassing the traditional international “four major families” with a combined share of 31.2%.
In addition, the price of domestic robots is 30% lower than that of imported brands, and the price of core components is only 55% – 70% of that of international brands, which greatly lowers the threshold for automation transformation and makes it affordable for small and medium-sized factories.
In terms of policy, the second batch of 91.5 billion yuan of “two new” equipment update project funds in 2026 has been fully released, and its volume is equivalent to the total GDP of Hainan Province in 2025.
The transmission chain from national policies to local subsidies has been completely opened.
From 2024 to 2027, domestic enterprises that invest no more than 50% of the original tax base in the transformation of automation equipment can be deducted from the tax payable for that year at a rate of 10%, and the carry-forward period can be up to 5 years.
Yunnan and other places provide subsidies for intelligent transformation projects of manufacturing enterprises based on 20% of the equipment investment. The reward and subsidy standard for key industries has risen to 25%, with a maximum subsidy of 10 million yuan for a single project.
These policies directly drive the demand for equipment procurement. From January to April 2026, domestic investment in the purchase of equipment and tools increased by 11.5% year-on-year, accounting for 18.2% of all fixed asset investment. In the first quarter of 2026, 2,038 new green factories were added across the country.
The growth of automated equipment is not a single outbreak, but the simultaneous release of demand from multiple downstream tracks.
The market size of domestic industrial robots will exceed 50 billion yuan in 2025, with a compound growth rate of 14% in the past five years. It is expected that the market size will exceed 100 billion yuan in five years.
The global market share of photovoltaic automation equipment exceeds 90%, and the domestic production rate of lithium battery equipment will reach 95% in 2025. The demand for new lithium battery equipment is expected to exceed 65 billion yuan in 2026, of which the demand for energy storage battery equipment will increase by 139% year-on-year.
In 2025, China’s new energy vehicle sales will reach 16.49 million units, with a penetration rate exceeding 52%, driving the continuous updating of automobile manufacturing automation equipment. The market size of the auto parts field will increase from 3.57 trillion yuan in 2019 to 4.84 trillion yuan in 2025.
Zheshang Securities Research Report predicts that the global compound growth rate of the reducer market in the field of humanoid robots will reach 173% from 2025 to 2030, and the overall market size is expected to exceed 90 billion yuan by 2030.
In terms of going overseas, China’s mobile robot export orders accounted for only 25.87% in 2022, and it has climbed to more than 40% by 2025.
Domestic companies not only export equipment, but also export a complete set of smart factory solutions.
For example, Linglong Tire’s Serbian smart factory, with the support of full-process automation equipment, compressed the single-tire production cycle to 22 minutes, the delivery time from 35 days to 5 days, and the defective product rate reduced by more than 50%. It became profitable within half a year of production, and successfully entered the European high-end supply chain.
At present, the overall localization rate of core components has just reached 55%, and the 45% substitution space in the high-end market has not yet been fully opened. Combined with the 90% growth rate of overseas markets, the high growth cycle of this track can continue for at least five years.
