Asia Leads Industrial Robot Installations

Asia is the world’s largest market for industrial robotics, with 72 percent of all newly deployed robots installed there in 2023, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

Some 382,000 units were installed in Asia that year, down 5 percent from the year before. China is driving the vast majority of the region’s market, with around 276,000 units installed in the country in 2023. With over 540,000 robots installed worldwide in 2023 - the second highest number on record (-2 percent from 2022) - every other robot installed globally was in China that year. The next largest national market in Asia in 2022 was Japan with more than 46,000 newly installed units (-9 percent).

In Europe, the second largest regional market, around 92,000 new robot units were installed in 2023 (+8 percent). Germany was the largest European market with over 28,000 robots installed, which marked a 7 percent increase from 2022. The next largest markets in the region were Italy with 10,000 units (-9 percent) and France with 6,000 units (-13 percent). Meanwhile, in the Americas, the United States saw over 37,000 new units installed (-5 percent), with the next largest markets being Mexico at nearly 6,000 (-3 percent) and Canada at more than 4,000 (+37 percent).

According to the IFR, China, Japan, the U.S., the Republic of Korea and Germany together accounted for 79 percent of global robot installations in 2023 (420,000 units). Worldwide, the major customer industries for industrial robotics were automotive (30 percent of all robots newly installed), electronics (27 percent of new installations), metal and machinery (8 percent), plastic and chemical products (7 percent) and the food and beverage industry (4 percent).