Robots Multiply in China as Annual Output Tops 100,000

(Bloomberg) -- China is churning out robots.

Annual production of industrial robots surpassed 100,000 for the first time -- and it only took 10 months. Shipments were up 67 percent through October compared with a year earlier, state media reported Thursday. And there’s more to come: full-year output will reach 120,000 units, according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology forecasts.

China accounts for about a third of the global demand for industrial robots, which are at the core of the government’s sweeping “Made in China 2025” plan to upgrade factories to be highly automated and technologically-advanced.

In 2015, foreign manufacturers supplied about two-thirds of China’s demand, according to the International Federation of Robotics. That proportion is narrowing as Chinese companies such as Midea Group Ltd. and Siasun Robot & Automation Co. expand into the sector. Midea purchased Germany’s Kuka AG last year and Siasun opened a $300 million a industrial park in October near its headquarters in Shenyang.

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