In the past few decades, Germany and Japan have been the industrial robot powerhouses. The “four major families” composed of Fanuc, Yaskawa, KUKA, and ABB have firmly occupied most of the global high-end industrial robot market share.
However, in 2025, the situation changed, and China’s industrial robot exports exceeded imports for the first time.
Even in local factories in Germany, the efficiency of domestic collaborative palletizing robots with a load of 80kg is 20% higher than that of KUKA products of the same level, and the procurement cost is only 45% of that of the German ones.
Why can China change from “buying machines” to “selling machines”?
We compare Germany and Japan because they represent the highest level of traditional industrial robots, with deep foundations in precision manufacturing, leading servo and reducer technologies, and mature international brands.
China started late and relied on imports of core components for a long time. However, by 2025, the localization rate of the three core components will have reached 55%, and in the field of humanoid robots, it will be as high as 75% – 90%.
In terms of supply chain efficiency, the gap is orders of magnitude.
In the Yangtze River Delta manufacturing cluster, a “full Yangtze River Delta-made” robot can roll off the production line every 12 minutes. Its bearings come from Wenzhou, the motor comes from Quzhou, and the reducer comes from Suzhou. The company can complete core component docking and sample verification within 3 hours.
The Pearl River Delta also has a dense supply chain. Guangdong’s industrial robot output will account for 43.5% of the country’s total in 2025, and local delivery of conventional models only takes 3 to 7 days.
In contrast, for overseas brands, it takes an average of 7 to 15 days to transfer goods across regions, and the delivery cycle for customized orders is generally 3 to 6 months.
This gap stems from China’s unique industrial cluster density and full-category industrial base.
In terms of iteration and adaptation capabilities, the scenario determines the speed.
The new product iteration cycle of leading domestic manufacturers is only 12-18 months, while the average for overseas brands is 24-36 months.
This is because China has the most complete downstream manufacturing scene in the world, covering all 71 industrial categories.
For example, in the lithium battery field, the penetration rate of domestic robots reaches 65%, and the penetration rate of photovoltaics exceeds 70%. Massive production line operation data directly feeds algorithm improvements.
German customers have reported that European companies have flexible manufacturing needs for “small batches and multiple varieties”. Domestic embodied robots are equipped with self-developed 3D vision and large models, and can adjust their working paths independently without reprogramming.
This kind of positive cycle of “scenario-generated demand and demand-driven iteration” is difficult for Germany and Japan to possess because their manufacturing scale and market growth rate are not at the same level as China.
The cost advantage is significant, but it goes beyond low price.
Under the same performance, the price of domestic harmonic reducers is only 40% – 60% of that of Japan’s Harmonica, and the overall cost of the whole machine is more than 30% lower than that of the fully imported solution.
The core reason why German customers choose Chinese products is no longer the price, but the performance of domestic robots that equals or even partially surpasses them.
For example, the JPT laser resistance trimming machine passed strict certification in Germany at one time, with a stable processing accuracy within 0.1%, and a trouble-free operation time of more than 50,000 hours; nearly 100 Xinsong large-load spot welding robots were deployed in batches at Geely’s Yiwu base, with a welding position error of ≤0.06mm, and core components are 100% autonomously controllable.
The German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Association (VDMA) clearly recognized at the 2026 industry conference that China’s full-stack robot supporting capabilities and implementation iteration speed have become important variables in global smart manufacturing.
However, China is not leading in all aspects. In areas such as high-end precision reducers, force sensors, and robot operating systems, Japan and Germany still have technological accumulation.
However, China is rapidly filling in. In terms of the number of patents, China accounts for 53.3% of the world’s embodied intelligence patents, and the focus of innovation is shifting from “mechanical evolution” to “intelligent evolution.”
The moats of Japan and Germany in the era of traditional industrial robots are being dismantled by China’s unique system efficiency in the new era of AI and scene-driven technology.
The leadership of domestic robots relies on the “system acceleration” generated by the superposition of the autonomy of the entire industry chain, massive scene data, and extremely fast response networks. This advantage is difficult for other countries to copy.
In the past, we introduced machines to manufacture products. Now, China has begun to provide the world with the ability to produce products. This is the true background of industry leadership.
