(Yicai Global) Dec. 29 -- China, the world’s largest consumer of industrial robots for eight straight years, aims to increase the annual revenue growth of its robotics industry to exceed 20 percent over the next five years, according to the government.

China will become a "highland" of the global robotics industry by 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, along with 14 other governmental agencies, wrote in a road map released yesterday.

The country's industry of bots maintained a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent in the past five years. In 2020, the sector's revenue surpassed CNY100 billion (USD15.7 billion) and the output of industrial robots was 212,000 units. Robot density in the manufacturing sector was 246 units per 10,000 employees, or twice the global average, the MIIT added.

The 2025 plan includes multiple goals. China should have a group of globally competitive companies in the industry. It should have built from three to five globally influential industry clusters. Moreover, the application of robots in manufacturing should double by then.

Some of the visions go even further. The comprehensive strength of China’s robotics industry should reach an internationally leading level by 2035 while such machines should become an important component of economic development, people’s daily lives, and social governance, per the plan.

However, there are hindrances. The scale of China’s robotics industry has grown rapidly with improving technologies, an MIIT official said during a press briefing yesterday. However, when compared with other advanced countries, China is still having an insufficient accumulation of technologies, a weak industrial foundation, and a lack of high-end supplies, the person added.

China will realize its plan by focusing on industrial transformation and consumption upgrades, according to the ministry. In sectors where bots are already being used widely, such as automobiles, electronics, machinery, and logistics, the country will develop new products and explore high-end segments. Meanwhile, in other less-automated fields, such as mining, agriculture, electricity, and healthcare, China will expand the application of robots via pilots.

Editor: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi