China is making and installing factory robots at a far greater pace than any other country, with the United States a distant third, further strengthening the East Asian nation’s already dominant global role in manufacturing.
There were more than 2 million robots working in Chinese factories last year, according to a report released Thursday by the International Federation of Robotics, a nonprofit trade group for makers of industrial robots. Factories in China installed nearly 300,000 new robots last year, more than the rest of the world combined, the report found. American factories installed 34,000.
While Chinese factories have been using more robots, they have also gotten better at making them. The government has used public capital and policy directives to spur Chinese companies to become leaders in robotics and other advanced technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
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