The Asia-Pacific robotics market presents a dynamic yet nuanced landscape, marked by steady growth, fierce competition, and rapid technological advancements—with striking regional variations between China’s dominance and the specialized niches of other APAC markets.
To decode these complexities, Guidepoint Insights engaged in a series of strategic discussions with leading robotics experts, including a former FANUC automation architect, ABB Ltd’s Global Product Specialist for Mobile Robotics, and Shanghai Kuman Network Technology’s former Product Director. These dialogues revealed how APAC’s distinctive blend of scale, policy-driven ecosystems, and cross-sector innovation is fundamentally reshaping the global automation standards.
CHINA AS THE REGIONAL GROWTH ENGINE
As the world’s largest robotics market, China is actively harnessing robotic technology as a key growth engine to power its latest industrial transformation.
To better understand the forces behind China’s rapid robotics innovation, the Guidepoint Insights team has engaged in discussions with leading industry specialists, including the Founder of InAI Lab, the General Manager of Shenzhen Top Science Industry Technology, and a Former Director of Strategic Development at Zhiyuan Robotics. These sessions provided real-time visibility into emerging trends and the ecosystem driving this evolution.
Key Takeaways:
“National and local government policies are actively promoting robotics deployment and industry upgrades. These policies are accelerating automation adoption, especially in manufacturing, logistics, and new energy sectors.”
“China controls over 60% of critical robotics components, especially the rare earth metals for motors and sensors. This supply chain dominance enables cost advantages and rapid iteration for domestic robotics companies.”
“China is a global leader in robotics hardware and data infrastructure. The robotics companies excel at large-scale real-world data collection, which is critical for training advanced robotics AI.”
INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS
The global industrial robotics market size in 2025 is reaching ~$50 billion, with automotive (including EV) and semiconductor sectors accounting for the largest shares. While growth is expected to be stabilizing at around 5-7% in the mature markets, this is a large segment and continues to expand.
Guidepoint Insights held pivotal discussions with leading experts in this field, including a Global Product Specialist for Mobile Robotics at ABB Ltd, and a former Project Lead at ANYbotics to expedite understanding of industrial robotics trends.
Key Takeaways:
“The market is shifting from standardized robot products to full application solutions tailored for specific industrial needs (e.g., packaging, palletizing, medical devices).”
“High reliability (minimal downtime), cost reduction, and robust maintenance/support infrastructure are key drivers for industrial robot adoption.”
“Collaborative Robots (Cobots) are being increasingly adopted in 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics), batteries, and logistics, especially in China.”
HUMANOID ROBOTS
The humanoid robotics sector is in early stages, yet experiencing rapid progress in technology, capital inflows and growth opportunities.
The Guidepoint team held future-looking discussions with frontier experts, including a Robotics Large Model Development Manager at Shanghai Zhiyuan Innovation Technology, a Former Vice President of Automative at FANUC, and a Former Product Director at Shanghai Kuman Network Technology, to outline emerging opportunities and key investment themes in this sector.
Key Takeaways:
“The most immediate traction for humanoid robots is in industrial settings—particularly automotive, EV, warehousing, and logistics—where labor shortages and the need for flexible automation are driving early deployments.”
“Companies like Tesla, BYD, and Hyundai are leveraging their manufacturing and autonomous driving expertise to develop in-house humanoid robots.”
“Robot-as-a-service or subscription models are likely to emerge as the dominant go-to-market strategies, especially for automotive and logistics customers.”
“While the long-term outlook is bullish, some experts are predicting a boom in five years.”
TECHNOLOGY CONVERGENCE
The technology convergence in robotics development is best characterized by the integration of advanced software (especially AI and machine learning), sensor technologies, cloud-edge computing, and modular hardware, resulting in more capable, flexible, and collaborative robots across industrial and service domains.
Guidepoint Insights held regular discussions with engineers, scientists, and industry experts including the Co-Founder of Enodo Robotics Ab, a former Senior Mechanical Engineer at Shanghai Fourier Intelligence and a former Product Director at Shanghai Kuman Network Technology to outline the critical convergence trends.
Key Takeaways:
“Cloud-based AI models and on-device “cerebellum” systems are now working in tandem, allowing robots to generalize across tasks and environments, and to receive rapid software updates and new skills from the cloud.”
“There is a convergence of tactile sensors, force feedback, and advanced vision systems (LiDAR, 3D cameras), making robots more dexterous and capable of handling delicate or complex assembly tasks.”
“Simulation platforms have become essential for robot training, allowing for rapid, low-cost development and testing of new skills in virtual environments before deployment in the real world.”
“Multi-robot collaboration is becoming more common, especially in logistics and manufacturing, where robots coordinate tasks and share data in real time.”
LOOKING FORWARD
Projected to surpass $100 billion by 2034, the APAC robotics ecosystem is being propelled by China and other regional leaders through groundbreaking advances in humanoid robotics, collaborative automation, and AI-driven solutions.
Through ongoing dialogues with pioneering engineers, research scientists, and industry specialists, Guidepoint Insights remains uniquely positioned to stay ahead of this sector’s most critical developments – particularly as industrial production, logistics networks, and next-generation service applications continue to transform across the region.
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