China, once the manual labor “workshop of the world”, has become the largest buyer of industrial robots, as rising wage costs and growing competition from emerging economies have forced manufacturers to turn to technology, according to Financial Times (FT).

China bought 36,560 industrial robots last year, a rise of almost 60% against 2012, according to new figures from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), an industry group based in Germany. Meanwhile, Japan bought 26,015 robots in 2013, with the US in third place with 23,679. In other words, China bought one in five robots sold globally in 2013, overtaking tech-savvy Japan for the first time, in its attempt to drive productivity gains.

Per Vegard Nerseth, head of robotics for ABB was quoted as saying that China has the fastest-growing robot market. In a few years, China will be significantly larger than the second and third largest robot market.

Robot sales to China have increased 36 %, on average, every year from 2008 to 2013, according to IFR data. The further growth potential is huge: in 2012, China had just 23 robots for every 10,000 people employed in the manufacturing industry, compared with 396 in South Korea.

Automotive sector drives demands

The increased demand for robots in China is being driven primarily by large multinational manufacturers, especially in the automotive sector.

China’s automotive industry, the world’s largest, accounts for about 60% of robot demand in the country, according to research by management consultancy Solidiance.

Pilar Dieter, who heads Solidiance’s Asia Pacific practice, was quoted as saying that many Chinese companies would still rather watch somebody break their back trying to lift a heavy box than pay for an expensive lifting table.

Arturo Baroncelli, IFR president, says that the capacity of robots to enter new production segments, other than automotive and semiconductors, through technology developments will ultimately fuel further growth in China.

Japan remains a market leader

Global robot companies, such as Switzerland’s ABB, Japan’s Fanuc and Germany’s Kuka, have been pouring resources into the Chinese market to capitalize on the country’s rapid automation. In 2011, Foxconn, the Shenzhen-based assembler for Apple, vowed to build a “million robot army” over three years to substitute for workers performing repetitive manual tasks, according to FT.

Miss Dieter estimates that six Japanese companies account for about half of all robot sales in China, saying that robot manufacturing is dominated by the Japanese currently. By contrast, China’s top four makers of robotics equipment have a combined market share of only about 5%.

While China is the fastest-growing market for robots, Japan still has, by far, the highest number of industrial robots in operation, with more than 310,000 in 2012, compared with 96,000 in China and 168,000 in the US, adds FT.