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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Robotics craze in China may fizzle in two years Want... One hot category amid the stock market rally in China is robotic firms, though the hype cannot mask the industry's underlying deficiencies, reports the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly. The industry owes its glow to the strong support of government policy. The "China manufacturing 2025" program, just rolled out by the State Council, designates robotics as one of the 10 key sectors for priority development. The goal is to become one of the world's manufacturing powers by 2025. After the program came out, prices of more than 10 robotic stocks surged to the daily ceiling the next day. Chinese firms have been scrambling to produce robots to tap the huge domestic demand. Robot shipments in China topped 56,000 units in 2014, one-fourth of the global total, making the nation the world's largest market for robots for the second year in a row. With its inception in 1992, the domestic robotics industry is still in its nascent stage. China has yet to develop key components and parts for domestic production, according to the report. A player in the field is Guangdong Bo Langte Intelligent Equipment. The manufacturer was founded by Ying Rongzhao, a former salesman at a Taiwanese-invested robotic firm, and three partners in May 2008. After a bumpy start, the company's robots, all simple models, began to gain traction in 2011 after labor costs soared and Chinese factories struggled with chronic labor shortages. The company's development reached a milestone in early 2014, when it, along with 265 other small domestic firms, listed its shares, thanks to the promotion of government policy. The share listing has greatly boosted its financial strength and rocketed its market value to 1 billion yuan (US$161 billion) now. The company's share price now fluctuates around 30 yuan (US$4.80) and the company's sales reached 83 million yuan (US$13.4 million) in 2014. SIASUN Robot & Automation is a leading robotics firm in China, founded in 2000 as an offshoot of Shenyang Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Listed on the growth enterprises market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, SIASUN boasted a market value of 82 billion yuan (US$13.2 billion) as of June 2, with sales topping 1.5 billion yuan (US$242 million) in 2014. The firm, however, is a far cry from the US$4.38 billion scored by Fanuc of Japan, a leading global robotics firm. Despite the market craze, the Chinese robotics industry does not have firm roots, said industry insiders. Many large firms rushed into the business by acquiring small robotic firms, in order to benefit from high share prices, without paying much attention to the foundations of R&D and talent cultivation. Many robotic firms will be eliminated in two years, said an expert. Those without core technology will be wiped out quickly, said the report. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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