Robotics production scales overseas
Shenzhen launched a pilot production line for humanoid robots with plans to scale to 10,000 units annually, while Taiwan opened a national AI robotics centre to move research toward commercial firms. Forecasts tied to those moves also point to faster growth in intelligent logistics and automation demand. (macaonews.org) (digitimes.com) (digitimes.com)
Shenzhen and Taiwan moved robotics plans from lab talk to factory floors this month, with one city opening a humanoid pilot line and the other a national commercialization center. (szlhq.gov.cn) (focustaiwan.tw) Shenzhen’s new line began operating on April 12 in Longhua district. It is run by Leju Robot and Guangdong Dongfang Precision Science and Technology, can assemble one robot in two hours, and is designed to turn out 500 to 1,000 units a year in the pilot phase. (macaonews.org) (info.newsgd.com) The line is building Leju’s Roban 2 research-and-education humanoid robot. After certification, production is set to shift to a factory in Foshan with planned annual capacity of 10,000 units. (macaonews.org) (chinadailyhk.com) Taiwan opened the National Center for AI Robotics in Tainan on April 10 under the National Institutes of Applied Research. President Lai Ching-te said the center is part of the government’s Ten AI Initiatives Promotion Plan and is meant to push robotics research into commercial use. (focustaiwan.tw) (taipeitimes.com) The Tainan site sits in Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City and links more than 130 companies, including Asus, Pegatron and Techman Robot. The center is set up with robot prototypes, sensors, testing equipment and simulation software so universities and companies can try software on working machines. (taiwannews.com.tw) (taiwantoday.tw) A humanoid robot is a machine built with arms, legs and joints arranged like a person so it can use tools and move through spaces designed for humans. These April launches focus less on inventing new robot bodies than on the harder step of making them repeatedly, testing them, and getting costs down. (szlhq.gov.cn) (taiwannews.com.tw) Market forecasts tied to that push are getting steeper. TrendForce said on April 9 that the global humanoid robotics industry is entering a key commercialization phase in the second half of 2026, and China’s annual output could rise as much as 94 percent this year. (trendforce.com) The same build-out is feeding warehouse and factory demand. Logistics trade organizers in Taiwan are pitching automated warehousing, intelligent transportation and cold-chain systems as companies chase faster and more precise delivery. (logistics.chanchao.com.tw) (tairos.tw) The next test is not whether more centers open, but whether these sites ship certified machines at the volumes they promised. Shenzhen’s line is already measuring that in hours per robot, and Taiwan’s center is measuring it in how many research projects turn into companies. (macaonews.org) (focustaiwan.tw)
