China

Guardforce AI, provider of integrated security solutions, AI and Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS), has signed a definitive agreement with Shenzhen Kewei Robot Technology Company to acquire certain of Kewei’s robot business-related assets in China.

ABB has opened its state-of-the-art, fully automated and flexible robotics factory in Kangqiao, Shanghai, China. The 67,000m2 production and research facility represents a $150 million (1.1 billion RMB) investment by ABB and will deploy the company’s digital and automation technologies to manufacture next generation robots – enhancing ABB’s robotics and automation leadership in China.

The industrial robotics market in China achieved strong growth with a new record of 243,300 installations in 2021 – a rise of 44% compared to the previous year. These preliminary data have been published by the International Federation of Robotics.

Recently, a team led by Prof. Qing Shi from Beijing Institute of Technology, China, has developed a novel robotic rat named SQuRo (small-sized quadruped robotic rat), which was made available online  in the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

The new 5-year plan for the robotics industry in China, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in Beijing, focuses on promoting innovation – making China a global leader for robot technology and industrial advancement. The statistical department of the International Federation of Robotics reports about the domestic and foreign engagement on the world’s largest market.

Blaize  announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Lidar solutions provider LeiShen, for in-depth cooperation on the integration of Lidar and AI functions in intelligence applications for autonomous operation across a range of automotive and smart city markets in China.

China’s cloud infrastructure market grew 54% year on year in Q2 2021 to US$6.6 billion, led by Tencent Cloud, which grew 92%. Tencent Cloud accounted for nearly 19% of total cloud infrastructure spending in China, but remained third behind Alibaba Cloud and Huawei Cloud, and ahead of Baidu AI Cloud. The four Chinese Cloud Titans managed to maintain their dominance of the market, collectively growing 56% to account for 80% of total cloud spending.

Cloud infrastructure services spend in China jumped 55% in Q1 2021, reaching US$6.0 billion. Total expenditure increased US$2.1 billion compared with Q1 2020 and over US$200 million on the previous quarter according to the latest Canalys data. The dollar-for-dollar annual expansion slowed on a sequential basis, highlighting some disruption to the Chinese cloud service providers’ businesses. But cloud infrastructure services growth in China continued to outpace the rest of the world, supported by the government making it a top strategic priority.

AutoX, a Chinese provider of fully autonomous vehicles, has opened its Robotaxi service to the general public in Shenzhen. This means the autonomous cars will be transporting passengers without a safety driver. Last year competitor Waymo was the first to make their taxi available to the general public.

China stays ahead of foreign countries in the development of indoor delivery robots. Outdoor autonomous delivery vehicles on the other hand are produced in small quantities in China and have not taken on a sizable scale yet, according to a report by ReseachandMarkets.