In recent years, the state has introduced a number of industrialization policies and development guidelines to support industrial automation equipment, which have promoted the rapid development of the industry. With the advancement of the "14th Five-Year Plan", intelligent manufacturing has become a long-term development trend, and the market share has been concentrated in enterprises with strong independent innovation capabilities and rapid product upgrading and iteration. In addition, the rise in labor costs and the aging of the population have intensified enterprises' demand for automation equipment. In the future, the industrial automation industry will continue to benefit from policy support and changes in market demand. With the continuous advancement of technology, industrial automation equipment will become more intelligent and networked, promoting the manufacturing industry to develop in the direction of high-end and intelligent.
I. Industry Status Quo: A Golden Age Driven by Policies, Technologies, and Demand
In 2025, China's industrial automation industry is embracing historic development opportunities. According to the 2025-2030 Panoramic Research and Trend Outlook Report on Domestic and Foreign Industrial Automation Industry released by Zhongyan Puhua Industry Research Institute, the industry's market size exceeded 322.5 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 12%, accounting for 25% of the global market share. Behind this growth lies the superimposed effect of triple drivers: policies, technologies, and demand.
(1) Policy-driven: Strategic Upgrade from "Manufacturing Power" to "Intelligent Manufacturing Power"
The "14th Five-Year Plan" for intelligent manufacturing clearly requires that 70% of manufacturing enterprises above a designated size achieve digitalization by 2025, directly driving the industry into a cycle of high-quality development. The National Development and Reform Commission's Action Plan for Innovative Development of Industrial Automation (2025-2027) proposes that the density of industrial robots nationwide will reach 400 units per 10,000 people by 2027, a 60% increase from 2020, with key support for automation upgrades in emerging industries such as new energy vehicles and semiconductors.
(2) Technological Breakthroughs: Paradigm Shift from "Standalone Automation" to "System Intelligence"
Technological innovation is reshaping the industry ecology:
- Intelligent control technology: Inovance Technology's PLC programming platform is compatible with Siemens' TIA Portal ecosystem, improving programming efficiency by 50% and shortening the single-project development cycle by 30%. SUPCON's DCS system holds a market share of over 50% in the petrochemical sector, and its APC (Advanced Process Control) software has replaced Honeywell and Yokogawa products, reducing energy consumption by 15%.
- Industrial robot technology: Estun's collaborative robot shipments increased by 40% annually, with load capacity exceeding 30kg, applied in scenarios such as automotive welding and 3C assembly. STEP's "carbon neutral" model IRB 1100 achieves a 30% carbon emission reduction throughout its life cycle and reduces energy consumption by 20% compared to traditional models.
- Industrial Internet technology: Huawei's 5G + Industrial Internet solution has a latency of less than 10ms. After deployment in enterprises such as Baosteel and Sany Heavy Industry, the equipment failure response time has been shortened from 2 hours to 15 minutes, and production efficiency has increased by 25%.
II. Market Size and Trend Analysis: Transition from a Hundred-Billion-Level to a Trillion-Level Track
(1) Short-Term Outbreak: Market Size Exceeds 322.5 Billion Yuan in 2025
Sub-sectors show differentiated growth:
- Industrial robot sector: The scale reached 85 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 18%, becoming the fastest-growing track. Siasun Robotics, through "AI + robot" technology, achieved a welding accuracy of ±0.02mm, 50% higher than traditional equipment. In 2024, its orders in the automotive industry exceeded 5,000 units, a threefold increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.
- Intelligent control system sector: The scale reached 70 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 15%. HollySys' DCS system holds a 35% market share in the power industry. Through AI predictive maintenance, it reduced equipment failure rates by 40% and operation and maintenance costs by 30%.
- Industrial software sector: The scale reached 50 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 20%. Dassault Systèmes' PLM tools have a penetration rate of over 40% in electric vehicle R&D, shortening product development cycles by 30% and reducing R&D costs by 25%.
(2) Long-Term Leap: Market Size to Approach 400 Billion Yuan by 2030
In the next five years, the industry will present three core trends:
- Technology integration: AI, 5G, and metaverse are reshaping production processes, making "software-defined manufacturing" a reality. Siemens' industrial metaverse content development tools reduce enterprises' 3D modeling costs by more than 30%, and Microsoft's HoloLens augmented reality technology improves HMI and PLC programming efficiency by 50%.
- Regional rebalancing: Chinese manufacturers have made breakthroughs in the hardware layer (PLC, servo systems), but the software ecosystem still requires ten years of accumulation. SUPCON's industrial operating system "SupOS" connects over 100,000 industrial devices, benchmarking Siemens' MindSphere, but the localization rate of PLM remains below 10%.
III. Future Market Outlook: Transition from "Scale Expansion" to "Value Deepening"
(1) Core Challenges: Industry Breakthroughs in the VUCA Era
- Geopolitical risks: The rise of global trade protectionism and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) have increased the import costs of industrial automation equipment by 8%-12%, requiring enterprises to build regional production networks.
- Technological iteration: Metaverse technology is applied to industrial training, simulating complex production scenarios and increasing the pass rate of practical assessments by 30%, but technical stability needs to be improved.
- Green transformation: With the phasing out of subsidies for new energy industrial equipment, enterprises need to self-raise funds for equipment upgrades, requiring a 30% reduction in energy consumption per robot.
(2) Strategic Opportunities: Integrated Innovation in New Infrastructure and New Tracks
- Digital new infrastructure: The national special investment in the innovative development of the industrial Internet exceeds 100 billion yuan, covering 20 hub cities and promoting a 40% improvement in the efficiency of 5G + industrial Internet integrated applications.
- Green new tracks: Carbon-labeled industrial products enjoy a premium of over 20%, demand for environmentally friendly packaging increases by 35% annually, and enterprises' ESG ratings are linked to financing costs.
- Cross-border new blue oceans: Trade volume among RCEP countries accounts for 30% of the total. Southeast Asia's logistics platform Ninja Van handles over 500 million industrial equipment packages annually, and Africa's logistics company Kobo360 optimizes truck empty-loading rates to below 15% through algorithms.
Zhongyan Puhua Industry Research Institute predicts that the industry will maintain a compound annual growth rate of over 10% in the next five years, with the market size exceeding 400 billion yuan by 2030. Driven by the dual engines of the digital economy and green development, the industrial automation industry is not only a key infrastructure for manufacturing transformation but also a strategic highland nurturing trillion-level investment opportunities.
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