The latest about the usage of robotics in manufacturing in China is that the country is about to increase the number by the year 2025 while taking the lead on a global scale.

The Chinese government is said to be embarking on a five-year plan to achieve a minimum annual growth of 20% in robotics sales as well as develop a group of industry champions in order to double its robot density.

The plan is a joint venture between the Chinese government including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

China, despite its population, is one of the places in the world that has taken automation very seriously – which has, in turn, replaced human labor.

Reports have it that this is an effort to cope with the country’s aging and shrinking workforce.

According to a report published by the Internation Federation of Robotics, China ranked 9th in robot density last year.

The measurement was made based on the number of robot units per 10,000 employees. China was formerly in the 25th position years prior but now aims to take the lead on a global scale.

With a robot density of 246 per 10,000 employees, China still lagged behind South Korea, which has a current density of 932 and has ranked first since 2010. Still, China’s level was well above the global average of 126, and close to the United States’ 255.

As part of its latest plan for smart manufacturing, China aims to digitize 70 percent of domestic manufacturers by 2025.

A separate plan by the Chinese government has it that the country plans to make robotics an important part of China’s economic development.

This comes as Beijing is trying to upgrade its economy amid a deepening technology rivalry with the US. The new five-year plan cites an “increasingly complicated” global environment and “increasingly intense” competition.

The plan also includes supply-and-demand matching imbalances and supply chain stability as part of the challenges that it needs to overcome.

Another one has it that China’s robotics industry is facing problems that include a lack of technology accumulation, a weak industrial foundation, and insufficient high-end supplies.

That said, China is therefore planning to build about 500 smart manufacturing model factories in order to position itself as the lead in the development of smart manufacturing while also cultivating about 150 smart manufacturing solution providers.

According to a report published last month by the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology, a policy research organization within Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, China leads the world in robotics patents, accounting for nearly 35 percent of the global output between 2005 and 2019. The US, meanwhile, accounted for about 13 percent of the world’s total.