South Korean media: Overwhelming global leader, China installed nine times more industrial robots than the US last year!
On December 22, South Korean media "Global Economy" published an article stating that China is actively using robot technology to enhance manufacturing competitiveness. In just one year last year, Chinese factories installed 295,000 industrial robots, nine times that of the United States. Chinese companies are investing billions of dollars to revolutionize the entire process from product production to exports using artificial intelligence and robot technology. At major ports, driverless trucks transport containers, while artificial intelligence technology manages ship schedules.
According to data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the number of operational industrial robots in China exceeded 2 million last year, ranking first among individual countries globally. The 295,000 robots installed in China last year surpassed the total of the rest of the world combined. Among the 131 factories selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) that use cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence to improve production efficiency, 45 are located in China, while only three are in the United States. Manufacturing is a crucial component of national strength, accounting for 25% of China's gross domestic product (GDP), far exceeding the global average.
The gap in manufacturing productivity between China and the United States is becoming increasingly evident in the speed of "robot automation" adoption. China is maximizing production efficiency through active robot investments, while the United States faces obstacles in automation transformation due to strong union opposition and long-term labor shortages.
The issue is that this gap may further widen in the future. China has become the first country in the world to issue a standard for humanoid robot intelligence classification, leading the world in setting global technology standards. Beijing is working to deploy 10,000 intelligent humanoid robots and plans to build a $14 billion industry cluster by 2027. Meanwhile, the United States is caught in a dual dilemma of unions and labor shortages. This stark contrast has sparked debates about whether the future of global manufacturing supremacy should be dominated by robots.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1852193718553604/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.