Driven by policy support and wider promotion and application in the industrial sector, China's output of industrial robots accelerated in the first two months of this year.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on March 16 showed that China produced 143,608 sets of industrial robots in the first two months, up 31.1% year on year.

The growth rate exceeded the 27% recorded in the same period last year, when the total output stood at 91,088 sets. For the whole of last year, China's output of industrial robots reached 773,074 sets, a year-on-year increase of 28%.

The rapid growth in industrial robot output has been attributed to nationwide support for wider deployment of robots on factory floors. China regards physical artificial intelligence as a key industry of the future and a new growth engine for the national economy.

According to data released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in September last year, China was the world's largest market for industrial robots in 2024, accounting for 54% of global installations. The IFR data indicated that 295,000 industrial robots were installed in China that year, far exceeding 44,500 in Japan and 34,200 in the United States.

Tech giants, including electric vehicle manufacturers, have stepped into the humanoid robot sector, while robot makers are stepping up commercialization efforts to achieve large-scale application in manufacturing.

Xiaomi Corporation, the Beijing-based smartphone and electric vehicle giant, recently tested its self-developed humanoid robots in automobile production operations. The robots are reported to be able to operate autonomously for three consecutive hours and complete assembly tasks without human intervention.

Earlier this month, Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, said the company planned to deploy a "large number" of self-developed humanoid robots in its own factories over the next five years.

UBTECH Robotics, a Shenzhen-based humanoid robot developer, announced on March 16 that it had entered into a cooperation with Siemens Digital Industries Software of Germany.

UBTECH said it would leverage Siemens' technologies to streamline development and production processes, and strive to achieve large-scale production of 10,000 units by the end of 2026.