Automation and the adoption of industrial robots in China is an inevitable trend, driven forward by the technological transformation of manufacturing and compelling demographic factors. Although China has incentivised manufacturing firms to adopt robots, it is yet to increase the market share of domestic manufacturers and increase the localisation of core component manufacturing. The challenge facing China’s industrial robotics sector isn’t just a technological one; it is also a human resource one. Narrowing access to foreign markets for technology and limited availability of high-quality human resources have emerged as bottlenecks for the further development of China’s industrial robotics market.
Rahul Karan Reddy is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He works on domestic Chinese politics and trade, producing data-driven research in the form of reports, dashboards and digital media. He is the author of ‘Islands on the Rocks’, a monograph about the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. Rahul was previously a research analyst at the Chennai Center for China Studies (C3S). He is the creator of the India-China Trade dashboard and the Chinese Provincial Development Indicators dashboard. His work has been published in The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, ISDP & Tokyo Review, among others. He can be reached via email at rahulkaran.reddy@gmail.com and @RahulKaranRedd1 on Twitter.
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