China's manufacturing has undergone a significant structural shift, especially in the past five years. Part of this has involved the greater use of industrial robots in some industries. Statistics on the global use of industrial robots provided by the International Federation of Robotics show the operational stock of multipurpose industrial robots in China was 189,358 at the end of 2014.
 
The stock is expected to increase to 614,200 by the end of 2018, making China the largest user of industrial robots in the world. The extensive use of robots by China will also make Asia a bigger user of robots than Europe and the United States.
 
Globally, the automotive industry is the largest user of industrial robots, followed by electronics, metals and chemicals. The Chinese automotive industry is the largest in the world. Apart from practically all major global automobile assemblers, such as Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Daimler, Honda and Jaguar who have assembling operations in China, there are several major domestic automobile manufacturers. These include Shanghai General Motors, Dongfeng and Beijing Auto. The huge expansion of the automobile industry in China partly explains the increasing use of industrial robots in the country. China's abundant processing of hi-tech electronic items has also contributed to the uptake of robots.
 

Source:gasgoo