Recent years have seen a steady uptake of robotics technology in factories around the world. The International Federation of Robotics said that there were 553,052 industrial robot installations in 2022, a 5 percent increase over the previous year. Seventy-three percent of these deployments were in Asia, 15 percent in Europe and 10 percent in the Americas. In IFR’s 2023 report, the growth rate was expected to have reached 7 percent or 593,000 units in 2023 and further go up to total 622,000 units in 2024, 662,000 units by 2025 and 718,000 units in 2026.
China accounts for the largest number of installations, according to the same report, with 290,258 units in 2022 or 52 percent of the global total. By the accounting of AskCI, a leading Chinese industry research and consulting services company, the country’s industrial robotics market was valued at $8.127 billion in 2022, achieving a CAGR of 16.5 percent from 2019. This rose to $9.24 billion in 2023 and is estimated to finish 2024 with $9.72 billion.
Servo motors
The expanding industrial robotics market will bring the same high growth in the shipments of servo motors. This type of drive has a feedback mechanism that ensures precise position, speed and torque settings are followed and deviations from these commands are corrected. Because of this closed-loop system, servos are a better drive for robotic arms, albeit more expensive, than stepper motors.
In China, manufacturers of servo motors continue to push R&D to compete with
multinational companies there and get a larger share of the domestic industrial robotics requirements. They are developing smaller, higher-precision units as well as integrated designs.
After all, China’s servo motor market is forecast to reach $3.09 billion by end-2024, according to AskCI. It’s been steadily growing from $2.5 billion in 2022 and $2.7 billion in 2023. For 2025, AskCI projects the upward trend will continue at 5 to 10 percent thanks to high demand in industrial robotics as well as in the automotive, industrial automation and medical equipment sectors.
At the Third Plenum of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in July, it was announced that “Beijing wants to adapt to the new round of industrial transformation by using robots as an engine for growth,” according to IFR’s report.
IFR president Marina Bill said that "China's rapid development in industrial robot automation is extraordinary. The operational stock surpassed the 1.5-million-unit mark two years ago, making China the first and only country with such a large industrial robot stock.”
Stiff competition in servo motor market
Although outnumbering multinationals, many Chinese servo motor manufacturers have a small or midsize production scale and a minority share of the domestic market except for a few such as Inovance.
Based on Qianzhan Industrial Research Institute’s data, the suppliers collectively owning nearly 70 percent of the market in 2022 were Inovance, Siemens, Panasonic, Yaskawa, Mitsubishi and Delta. Inovance and Siemens had respective shares of 22 and 10 percent that year.
The other top Chinese makers are Shanghai Step and Estun, while the majority continue to catch up with them and foreign companies in terms of technology. Most homegrown manufacturers export 10 to 30 percent of their servo motors, mainly to Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. They are confident that shipments to overseas markets will increase by 5 to 10 percent in the next two years.
Multinational and domestic makers are mostly found in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao. The others are in inland areas such as Wuhan, Xi’an and Chengdu.
China-made servo motors
Chinese suppliers of servo motors generally cater to any requirements for industrial robotics applications, and such products represent between 30 and 70 percent of their output.
As for typical units, these are available in various specifications, with rated voltage ranging from 24V to 96VDC, rated power of 50W to 10kW, rotational speed of 1,000 to 3,000rpm and torque of 16 to 48N.m.
As a quality guarantee, suppliers ensure their products meet industry safety standards such as UL, CE and RoHS.
Depending on buyers’ preferences, the components used in manufacturing these motors, including permanent magnets, rotors, stators, bearings and shells, are sourced domestically or from foreign companies. The cost of these materials is expected to remain stable until 2025 and keep servo motor prices unchanged.
Servo motor, 1,000 to 3,000rpm speed
Company: Beijing Shidai Chaoqun Electrical Technology Co. Ltd
Beijing Shidai Chaoqun markets the SH Series consisting of servo motors with 24 to 36V, 48 or 60V or 48 to 72V rated voltage, 31 to 1,000W rated power and 1,000 to 3,000rpm speed.
MOQ: Negotiable
Lead time: 7 days
Servo motor, custom speed and rated power
Company: Xian Huan-Tai Technology & Development Co. Ltd
The HT-80SFN07530-Y servo motor from Xian Huan-Tai is available in sizes of 60, 80, 110 and 130mm. It has buyer-specified speed and rated power.
MOQ: 5 units
Lead time: 15 days
Servo motors, 1,500 to 3,100rpm speed
Company: Yum Tin Box (Mfy) Co. Ltd
The Motor-1910 from Yum Tin Box is a servo with 24, 48, 72 or 96V voltage, 69 to 175A continuous current, 1,500 to 3,100rpm or custom speed, 16 to 48N.m torque and IE2-standard efficiency.
MOQ: 5 units
Lead time: 15 days
IP65 servo motor, 3,000rpm rated speed
Company: ZJTEX Electric Group Co. Ltd
ZJTEX’s IP65-rated servo motor with Class B insulation, the PMSM80, has 220V and 3A rated voltage and current, and 0.75kW rated power. Its rated speed is 3,000rpm, rated torque 2.4N.m, peak torque 7.1N.m and operating temperature 0 to 40 C.
MOQ: 100 units
Lead time: 20 days
