"China has an army of robots in the trade war!"
An article on The New York Times website recently focused on China's manufacturing field robot army, believing that they have completely transformed China's manufacturing industry, enabling Chinese factories to keep the prices of many exported products at a low level and giving them an advantage in dealing with Trump's high tariffs and the trade war.
The article noted that now the factories in China are more automated than those in the United States, Germany or Japan.
Data from the International Federation of Robotics showed that the number of industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers in China is only second to South Korea and Singapore, ranking third in the world.
The article noticed that not only large factories like automobile factories but also many small workshops began to use industrial robots. For example, the owner of a small factory in Guangzhou with 11 workers producing cheap ovens and barbecue equipment plans to buy a camera-equipped robotic arm from a Chinese company. This device can autonomously learn how to weld the side of the oven through artificial intelligence and then repeat the action with minimal human intervention.
The article stated that just four years ago, the same system could only be purchased from foreign robotics companies for about $140,000 - while the price from Chinese companies was only about $40,000. The factory owner said he had never imagined himself being able to invest in automation equipment before.
The article noted that American automobile factories also use automation, but much of the equipment comes from China. Most of the car assembly plants built over the past 20 years are in China, around which an automated industry gradually developed.
In April 2025, a robotic arm is working on the production line of an electric vehicle manufacturer in China (photo from Visual China)
Chinese companies also acquired advanced overseas robotics suppliers, such as Kuka in Germany, and transferred most of their operations to China. The article noticed that in the electric vehicle factory of Volkswagen in Hefei, there is only one robot from Germany, while more than 1,000 others are produced in Shanghai.
The article also noticed that Chinese universities annually cultivate about 350,000 mechanical engineering graduates, as well as electricians, welders and other trained technicians. In comparison, only about 45,000 mechanical engineering graduates graduate from American universities each year. A co-founder of a leading American robotics manufacturer said that one of his biggest challenges was finding skilled employees.
Original title: "U.S. media exclaimed! 'Factories in China are more automated than those in the United States, Germany or Japan'"
Column Editor: Zhou Chunsheng; Text Editor: Shen Jialing
Source: Author: China Media Group Global Information Broadcasting
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7496815988726448679/
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