Accelerated growth in China’s mobile robotics market over the past 10 years is giving way to globalization strategies as companies face growing economic pressures at home, according to data from industry research firm Interact Analysis.
The report cites booming e-commerce, increasing labor costs, and a government push to automate as key drivers of China’s mobile robotics market since 2015. Responding to the trend, hundreds of domestic companies sprung up to supply autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and other specialized warehouse automation solutions to businesses across the country. But the rapid expansion has led to a domestic market characterized by intense competition and “relentless price pressure” according to the report.
“Slower domestic growth and squeezed margins are causing many of the larger Chinese mobile robotics companies to embark on an aggressive internationalization strategy,” according to September analysis from Jonathan Sparkes, a market analyst for Interact Analysis. “By expanding into Europe, North America, and other higher-priced markets, they are seeking both higher profitability and long-term stability.”
For the research, the company analyzed more than 60 Chinese mobile robot vendors’ revenues from 2018 to 2024. They found that local companies that have expanded internationally have outperformed those focused solely on the domestic market.
Interact Analysis
“… as these vendors broaden their offerings to international markets, the performance gap is getting bigger. It demonstrates a widening divergence between global-facing firms and their domestic-only focused rivals,” Sparkes wrote in the report. “This insight explores the growing expansion of Chinese mobile robot vendors that are expanding internationally and the implications this will have on the global market.”
Among those implications, Sparkes said the trend will help make automation more accessible to smaller companies, increase price pressure on American and European mobile robotics companies, and expand partnerships between material handling systems integrators and Chinese vendors.
