Sunny Cheung
Executive Summary:Since 2015, Beijing has pursued a whole-of-nation strategy to dominate intelligent robotics, combining vertical integration, policy coordination, rapid deployment, and local experimentation. This approach has already achieved several of its core objectives.
Policy documents articulate an official focus on core trends and technologies like humanoid robotics, sensors, actuators, and motion control. Local governments are also diversifying applications into fields ranging from eldercare to logistics and manufacturing.
Massive state subsidies and loans underwrite these programs, with provinces and cities engaging in a de facto “subsidy race,” each vying to foster the next national robotics champion within their jurisdiction.
“Industrial migration” is another emerging trend, in which a growing number of electric vehicle and tech giants are entering the humanoid robotics sector due to technological and supply chain overlaps. Their scale, engineering capacity, and vertical integration allow them to lower costs, accelerate R&D, and compete aggressively in a nascent industry.
Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series analyzing the trajectory of the PRC’s robotics industry, from ecosystem formation to supply chain control to military implications. This first instalment maps previously undisclosed trends, drawing on recent policy papers, investment announcements, and discussions among industry players to decode the Beijing’s approach to this increasingly important sector.
Beijing is mounting a coordinated campaign to get ahead in next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) hardware through a nationwide surge in robotics. While companies in the West like Tesla and Boston Dynamics introduced physical AI to global audiences years ago, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is now rapidly assembling an impressive array of competitors, marshalling industrial, academic, and financial resources to scale up its new national champions. The race is well underway.
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