China’s grip on the robotics industry is tightening, and the latest data from the International Federation of Robotics makes that clearer than ever. In 2024, China installed 295,000 new industrial robots, accounting for more than half of all global installations. That’s a 7 percent jump from the previous year, and it pushed the country’s total stock past 2 million operational robots – by far the largest in the world. According to the IFR, global installations reached 542,000 in 2024, which means China alone added more robots than Europe and the Americas combined.
Asia overall continues to dominate, taking a 74 percent share of installations, while Europe sat at 16 percent and the Americas just 9 percent. Robotics and Automation News notes that global demand has doubled in the past decade, but no country has scaled faster than China.
What’s striking is that domestic suppliers are now leading the charge. For the first time, Chinese manufacturers sold more robots locally than foreign companies did, with domestic firms capturing 57 percent of their own market in 2024. That means China isn’t just buying robots – it’s building and deploying them at a speed that could permanently shift global supply chains. China Daily reports that the shift to local production is a key step in reducing reliance on foreign technology.
The implications go far beyond numbers. Robots are now essential to industries like electric vehicles, semiconductors, and renewable energy, where scale and precision determine who leads globally. With its robot density climbing rapidly—measured as the number of robots per 10,000 workers—China is outpacing traditional leaders like Germany and Japan while closing in on South Korea.
Looking forward, the IFR forecasts installations will climb to 575,000 in 2025 and pass 700,000 by 2028, with China expected to remain the engine behind much of that growth. As IFR points out, the global stock of operational robots is already at 4.66 million and rising fast.
For the rest of the world, this isn’t just a race to keep up – it’s a race not to fall behind. China’s robot boom is rewriting the future of manufacturing, and the countries that can’t match its pace risk losing their
