China announced a five-year roadmap to achieve its goal of becoming a global robotics innovation hub by the year 2025.

In the plan announced today, it said it aims to do this by focusing on enhancements in key areas such as control panels and servomotors.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed operating income from the country’s robotics industry is expected to grow by around 20% per year between 2021 and 2025. From 2016 to 2020, the sector expanded at an average growth rate of 15%. Last year, operating income surpassed 100 billion yuan ($15.69 billion) for the first time, the ministry said.

The country has also displayed impressive growth with regards to its manufacturing robot density, a key metric that shows how far nations have progressed in terms of robotic automation. Last year it reached 246 units per 10,000 people, almost double the global average, ranking as the ninth most automated country in the world.

China’s next aim is to double this figure by 2025, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology spokesperson Wang Weiming told the China Daily newspaper. To do so, the country will make a concerted effort to drive breakthroughs in core robot components including controls, servomotors and speed reducers, which are the basic building blocks of automated machines.

“The goal is that by 2025, the performance and reliability of these homegrown key components can reach the level of advanced foreign products,” Wang said.

Beijing also wants to see high-end advanced robotics adoption in more industries, including the automobile, aerospace, railway, logistics and mining sectors.

The 2021 World Robot Report shows that global manufacturing robot density hit an average of 126 robots per 10,000 employees in 2020, up from just 66 units in 2015. The three most automated countries are all in the Asia-Pacific region. South Korea leads the way with 932 units per 10,000 employees, followed by Singapore at 605 and Japan at 390. Germany and Sweden were ranked fourth and fifth.

In regional terms, Asia/Australia had the highest level of automation with an average robot density of 134 units per 10,000 workers, with Europe ranking second at 123 units. The Americas clocked in at 111 units.

China’s robot density growth was however said to be the most “dynamic” globally, driven by a substantial increase in installations. In 2015, China’s average robot density was just 49 units per 10,000 people.

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