China: Most Factory Robots in the World by 2017

From the Wall Street Journal online:

China ... already the world’s largest market for industrial robots ... is expected to have more factory robots than any other country on earth by 2017, according to the German-based International Federation of Robotics.

Chinese labor costs have soared, undermining the calculus that brought all those jobs to China in the first place, and new robot technology is cheaper and easier to deploy than ever before.

Not to mention that many of China’s fastest-growing industries, such as autos, tend to rely on high levels of automation regardless of where the factories are built...

China is letting low-cost production shift out of the country and is focusing instead on capital-intensive industries such as steel and electronics where automation is a driving force.

China’s emergence as an automation hub contradicts many assumptions about robots.

Economists often view automation as a way for advanced economies to retain industries that might otherwise move offshore, since the focus is finding ways to save on costly labor. Some of that is certainly going on.

But increasingly, robots are gobbling up jobs in developing countries, reducing the potential job creation associated with building new factories...

The trade group says one reason China will continue booming is because it has relatively low “robot density.” China has about 30 robots for every 10,000 factory workers. In Germany, the density is 10 times higher. In Japan, it’s 11 times higher.
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Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/04/01/why-china-may-have-the-most-factory-robots-in-the-world-by-2017/?