Industrial Robots: The Largest in Size and Fastest in Growth
1.In recent years, the production and sales of industrial robots in China have continued to increase, and China has maintained the top position globally for several consecutive years. Since 2024, both the production and sales of industrial robots and service robots have achieved double-digit growth, further consolidating China's position in the global robotics industry.
From the perspective of market structure:
Automobile welding and 3C electronics remain the traditional core areas for robot applications;
New scenarios such as battery power, photovoltaic components, metal processing, home appliances, and warehousing logistics have seen rapid growth;
Domestic brands have emerged significantly in specialized directions such as low-load, multi-joint, and collaborative robots, forming a complete solution of "domestic hardware + domestic controller + domestic core components".
2.Intelligent control system: From "black box" to "soft and hard integrated solution"
The intelligent control system includes PLC, DCS, PAC, motion controllers, as well as frequency converters, servo drives, etc., and is the "central nervous system" of industrial automation. Industry research generally believes that the market size of intelligent control systems in China will reach tens of billions of yuan in 2025, with an annual growth rate remaining in the medium-high range.
At present, there are three major trends:
The controller is developing towards an integrated direction of multi-axis motion, process control and robot control;
The supporting software places greater emphasis on simulation, remote debugging and data collection, and gradually forms synergy with MES and SCADA;
Domestic brands have already obtained stable market shares in the mid-to-low-end PLC and DCS fields, and are continuously catching up in the high-end complex process and redundant control fields.
Industrial Software and Industrial Internet: From "Supporting Role" to "Main Role"
Industrial software is the brain and center of intelligent manufacturing, covering CAD/CAE/CAM/PLM, SCADA, MES, APS, etc., as well as industrial PaaS platforms and industrial operating systems. In recent years, the growth rate of the related markets of industrial software and industrial internet has been significantly higher than that of traditional automation hardware.
In industrial practice:
More and more enterprises are building industrial internet platforms as the foundation to connect the data pathways of "equipment - production line - workshop - factory - supply chain";
The concept of "software-defined manufacturing" is gradually being implemented, with process formulas, production scheduling strategies, and quality control logic more being consolidated in the software layer;
The progress of hardware localization is relatively fast, but there is still a large space for domestic substitution in high-end industrial software, PLM, and industrial simulation.
