while the whole country is upgrading its industries, shenzhen is leading the trend by forging itself into a base for robotics, several chinese-language newspapers recently reported.
according to a report published in the shenzhen special zone daily yesterday, there are over 3,000 companies involved with robotics in shenzhen, among which around 200 are enterprises dedicated to the industry.
the overall annual production of these companies is estimated to exceed 48 billion yuan (us$7.4 billion), according to a robotics white paper released jointly by several shenzhen government departments. it is the first white paper on the field so far.
the white paper estimated the city's total production volume of this promising industry would exceed 361.5 billion yuan by 2020.
according to the latest data released in january by the city's robotics association, members of the association soared from around 30 companies to more than 180 companies in only one year.
a survey conducted by the american industry magazine robotics business review provides new evidence of shenzhen's status as a national hub of robotics. the survey showed that among the top 50 most influential robotics companies in the world, for the first time, three companies from china are on the list. two of the chinese companies are based in shenzhen.
the two shenzhen robotics companies are dji and foxconn. the world famous drone maker, dji, ranks 12th place from the top for its growing impact on manufacturing and the development of drones. the company has become the largest consumer drone company in the world.
the mini-sized drones developed by dji have taken half of the sales volume in the world, promoting the idea of created in china."
dji's estimated sales volume has reached us$10 billion. company ceo, wang tao, 36, ranks 512 on the hurun global rich list for 2016.
another company, foxconn, was originally established in taiwan china, but gradually shifted its main business to shenzhen. the company has now become an essential contributor to the world's it industry, according to the paper.
the robots created and developed in shenzhen made a national debut on cctv's spring festival gala this year to show the city's leading position.
the top 50 robotics companies on the list are from 11 different countries, including the united states and switzerland. another chinese company is from shenyang, liaoning province.
shenzhen has rolled out favorable policies to enhance the industry and has invested 500 million yuan in government fiscal fund in robotics and wearables each year since 2014.
the national natural science foundation of china recently inked a deal with the shenzhen municipal government to build a robotics research center in shenzhen
