CHINA HAS AN EDGE IN ROBOTS AMID TARIFF WAR

Rising in factory equipment competence are giving China an advantage in manufacturing and other industries

- Keith Bradsher from Ningbo, and Guangzhou

China's secret weapon in the trade war is an army of factory robots, powered by artificial intelligence, that have revolutionised manufacturing.

Factories are being automated across China at a breakneck pace. With engineers and electricians tending to fleets of robots, these operations are bringing down the cost of manufacturing while improving quality.

As a result, the price of many of China's exports the driver of the country's economy ―is remaining competitive even as US President Donald Trump has erected a high wall of tariffs.

China is also facing new trade barriers by the European Union and developing countries, ranging from Brazil and India to Turkey and Thailand.

Factories are now more automated in China than in the United States, Germany or Japan.

China has more factory robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any other country except South Korea or Singapore, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

China's automation drive has been guided by government directives and backed with huge investment. And as robots replace workers, automation positions China to continue to dominate mass production even as its labour force ages and becomes less willing to take industrial jobs.

He Liang, founder and chief executive of Yunmu Intelligent Manufacturing, one of China's top producers of humanoid robots, said China was striving next to turn robotics into an entire new sector of business.

"The expectation for humanoid robots is to create another electric car industry," he said. "So from this perspective, it is a national strategy." Robots are replacing workers not just in car factories but even in China's many thousands of back-alley workshops.

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