Robot 'Old Money' Thrones Crumble as New Powers Rise
The four foreign automation giants — FANUC, Yaskawa, ABB, and KUKA — once held over 60% of China’s industrial robot market, with FANUC alone exceeding 20% at its peak. However, by Q1 2026, domestic brands’ share surpassed 55% for the first time. Estun ranked first in shipments for six consecutive quarters, tied with Inovance Technology, while FANUC’s share slipped to 9%.
In specific segments, localization has deepened dramatically: domestic players account for 85% of the collaborative robot market, 62% of welding robots, and over 70% of palletizing four-axis robots.
A symbolic event is ABB’s strategic retreat. In October 2025, ABB agreed to sell its robotics business to SoftBank for $5.375 billion enterprise value — less than a year after iRobot filed for bankruptcy and was acquired by its Chinese contract manufacturer, Sanji Robotics.
The story of iRobot offers another angle. Founded in 1990 by three MIT robotics experts, the company swept to global dominance after launching Roomba in 2002, once controlling 80% of the robot vacuum market. Its valuation peaked at $3.56 billion in 2021, and Amazon attempted to acquire it for $1.7 billion.
By the end of 2025, however, its valuation had collapsed to around $140 million, with liabilities of $190 million. U.S. research firms attribute the failure to the obsolescence of the 'U.S. design + offshore manufacturing' model as the industry matured. When competition shifted from 'having a product' to 'having a good product,' innovation in the lab had to be tightly coupled with iterative refinement in manufacturing.
Chinese rivals like Ecovacs pioneered laser radar on robot vacuums in 2015, later adding features such as hot air drying and self-cleaning, while iRobot clung to its vision-based approach and fell behind in technology cycles.
The rise of new forces follows divergent paths. First, robots companies emerged from traditional manufacturing. Tianji Intelligent, spun off from precision manufacturer Changying Precision's automation division, pivoted from integration projects to product-focused development under the second-generation factory heir Chen Xi. In September 2026, it closed a B++ round led by Ant Group and SOFINA, reaching a post-money valuation near 10 billion yuan. Its self-developed MEMS force-sensing sensors offer severalfold improvements in sensitivity and impact resistance, with orders exceeding 10,000 units in Q1 2026.
Second, startups are rushing to public markets. Unitree Robotics debuted on the STAR Market in August 2026 with a P/E ratio of 219 times. Yet its share price tumbled from an opening of 1,100 yuan, erasing nearly 100 billion yuan in market value. Investors are demanding proof that these companies can not only perform but also deliver real productivity.
Third, cross-industry giants bring real-world scenarios. Xiaomi's humanoid robot, after working continuously for four months at its own car factory, raised its nut insertion success rate from 90.2% to 98%. Midea, which owns KUKA, recorded robotics revenue of 31 billion yuan in 2025.
The cracks in the 'big four' thrones do not mean their era is over. Foreign brands still hold unshakable positions in high-end automotive manufacturing and precision electronics assembly.
Yet the direction is clear: as China's supply chain shifts from 'contract manufacturer' to 'definer,' and as the first-mover advantage of 'from 0 to 1' is overtaken by the iteration speed of 'from 1 to N,' the balance of power in the robotics industry is tilting irreversibly. This power shift is far from complete — it is just entering deep waters.