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In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping gathered the country’s most powerful corporate chieftains including Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and Alibaba’s Jack Ma in a highly publicised meeting. Among them was Wang Xingxing, the 35-year-old CEO of little-known robotics startup Unitree Robotics. His ascendancy to the country’s top industrial ranks underscores the sector’s rising importance in the $19 trillion economy. One of the major drivers behind countries looking to robots is shifting demographics. In China, a rapidly ageing population combined with young people increasingly spurning factory jobs have resulted in a labour crunch: in 2021 officials forecasted a shortage of nearly 30 million manufacturing workers by 2025. It’s likely to get worse. China’s workforce is set to shrink to roughly 645 million by 2045. That compares with a 2013 peak of 794 million, per estimates from the Economist Intelligence Unit, and would represent less than half the total population. For the export-dependent economy, these trends risk derailing President Xi Jinping’s goal of doubling per capita GDP by 2035 from 2020 levels.
Full feature : Despite CCP’s efforts, Chinese robotics industry is only just ahead of US and European companies.
The Geography of PRC Robotics: Charting China’s Robotic Future
An overview of the PRC robotics industry including robotic hub cities and companies.
Breakthroughs in Humanoid Robotics and the Dawn of Embodied AI
An in-depth look at recent technological breakthroughs in humanoid robotics and the emergence of embodied AI, discussing their potential impact on various sectors and the future of human-robot interaction.
China Has an Army of Robots on Its Side in the Tariff War
This article examines how China’s deployment of AI-powered factory robots is enhancing its manufacturing efficiency, providing a strategic advantage in international trade disputes.
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Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence