China: China's robot industry surges as innovation accelerates.

Shotlist FILE: China - Date Unknown 1. Various of robots performing tasks FILE: Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, south China - Date Unknown 2. Cityscape 3. Various of robot testing lab Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, south China - Recent 4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Qian, founder of local robot company (starting with shot 3/ending with shot 5): "We have built up expertise in both hardware and algorithms, and today that is really bearing fruit. When it comes to zero-to-one innovation, we hope we are able to do it at a globally leading level." FILE: China - Date Unknown 5. Various of robot testing lab 6. Various of robots in factory, labs, robots in application scenarios 7. Cityscape Storyline China's robot industry posted strong growth in the first half of 2026, with major robotics firms generating 165.5 billion yuan (about 24.62 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue, up 24.5 percent year on year, as the sector enters a new stage of rapid expansion. In Beijing, a newly built testing platform is training robots in high-voltage power line work, power equipment switching and circuit breaker operations. The city is exploring nearly 300 scenarios for such 'embodied intelligence robots', completing trials and deploying units to perform various tasks. In Shenzhen, a "72-hour prototyping circle" allows companies to move from design to 3D-printed robot prototypes in as little as three days, one of the world's most efficient industrial chains dedicated to robotics. "We have built up expertise in both hardware and algorithms, and today that is really bearing fruit. When it comes to zero-to-one innovation, we hope we are able to do it at a globally leading level," said Wang Qian, founder of a Shenzhen-based robotics company. China has become the world's largest holder of robot patents, with applications in 2024 accounting for about two-thirds of the global total. From design to manufacturing, the country has developed an almost entirely self-supporting, risk-resilient robotics industry. China has been the world's largest industrial robot market for 13 consecutive years, with robots deployed across at least 71 major industry categories. Chinese-made industrial robots have captured over 50 percent of the home market. Last year, industrial robot exports grew 48.7 percent, outpacing imports for the first time and making China a net exporter. Embodied intelligence robots, meanwhile, are moving beyond exhibition halls and demonstrations to real-life service, with robots increasingly used in high-risk jobs and extreme conditions as well as in homes and factories were their use is ever more widespread. In June, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission launched a special initiative to speed up the development of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence units with more real-world training. The plan will identify more than 100 high-value robot use cases and build and deploy ten thousand new units for the selected use cases. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]