Reducers is one of the most important components in industrial & humanoid robots. There are different types including general purpose, harmonic, RV, Cycloidal speed & precision planetary reducers. 1st 2 are the most important reducers in robots. More on robot supply chain👇
See below for a list of publicly listed Chinese companies that produce RV & Harmonic reducers. eg: 上海机电 supports Kuka, Fanuc, ABB & Yaskawa So these Chinese companies aren't just good enuf for domestic robots, but also foreign OEMs that produce in China for local mkt.
After tech war started, there was fear that Chinese robot growth could be slowed down by Western sanctions, especially thru reducer restrictions. But, Harmonic reducer is already 75% domestic & RV is also over 60% + growing quickly. This effectively future proves reducer supply.
See below for China's harmonic reducer mkt vs ROW: China had demand for 1 million harmonic reducer by 202 & more than 50% of demand overall. Most of it for industrial robot, but also some for machine tools & cars. 6-axis robot need 6 reducers, so demand high from robots.
Harmonic reducer mkt is a typical story of 1 foreign company Harmonic drive vs many Chinese companies. Due to growth of Chinese players, Harmonic drive is down to 36% by 24H1 in China w/ LeaderDrive, Laifual & TC Drive in 2 to 4th place. HDSI & Nidec was at 61% in 2018.
But growth of Chinese supply chain doesn't stop just in reducers. It has also made huge progress in servo motors. By 2023, China Inc reached 52% of local mkt while Western+JP players like Siemens, Mitsubishi, Panasonic & Yasakawa are down to 41%.
Even the foreign players are likely producing in China, bc if we look at this import/export chart. China only imports <100m RMB servo motors while exporting 900m. Largest customer by far is India followed by Vietnam & US.
Servo motor is more widely used than reducers. You can see below that it is utilized in industrial robot, machinery, NEVs, machine tool, medical equipment & more. Largest domestic player is Inovance, who also happen to be a top 10 industrial robot producer as well as EV motor
Recent growth in China's robot supply chain indicates that it no longer can be choked off by foreign sanctions. Domestic share likely will continue to grow, but China Inc & Industry 4.0 are no longer worried about getting choked off. That's a huge change over 3 yrs ago.
@tphuang China has quietly erased the fear that foreign choke points could stall its robot industry. The core drivetrain parts once seen as irreplaceable—reducers and servo motors—are now mostly produced inside the country. Harmonic reducers, which handle precision motion in light and