Fanuc

History

2021: Investing $240 million in industrial robots

In early April 2021, the Japanese manufacturer of industrial robots Fanuc invested $240 million in the development of its plant in Shanghai. The funds are directed to the modernization of the enterprise, created jointly with the Shanghai Electric Group. The site in Shanghai will grow fivefold, and new capacities are planned to be commissioned in 2023.

China's manufacturing sector is recovering from the pandemic and is fully modernizing plants, and Fanuc believes it will be able to meet the growing demand for automation of production using robots. Already in 2019, Fanuc was the largest player in China with a 12% share in the production of industrial robots. The company intends to maintain a leading position with large-scale investments that will restrain the growth of competitors such as ABB and Yaskawa Electric.

Fanux invests $240 million in industrial robots

Most of the robots will continue to be produced in Japan, and from there the robots will be exported to Shanghai to further adapt to the needs of each client by adjusting manipulators, modifying sensors and other changes.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, more than 780,000 industrial robots were involved in China in 2020, the most in the world. Nevertheless, in terms of the ratio of robots to humans in factories, China is twice as far behind Japan, which leaves many opportunities for growth. The rising cost of labor in China reinforces this trend.

Fanuc competitors also do not stand still. Yaskawa is building a new plant next to the already existing in Jiangsu province, investing almost $50 million, production is scheduled to begin in fiscal 2022. In turn, ABB intends to open a new plant in Shanghai worth about $150 million in 2021. Meanwhile, Beijing is ready to support its own producers and intends to increase the share of local players in the domestic market to 70% in 2025.^[1]

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