Electronic Industry Drives Robotics Revenue

While full automation and the use of robots in a domestic environment are still the exceptions rather than the norm, industrial robotics are becoming more and more commonplace due to their efficiency and precision, especially in the manufacturing industry. According to estimates from our Statista Technology Market Outlook, roughly half a million industrial robotics were already in use around the world in 2021. As our chart based on the corresponding dataset shows, sales of robots geared towards two industries, in particular, make up the most significant share in overall revenue.

The automotive industry, for example, is already well-known for its usage of robotics to further streamline and optimize car production. Sales to clients in this sector amounted to $2.2 billion in 2021, with Statista analysts expecting this number to grow by nine percent to $2.4 billion in 2026. Though demand in this sector is unlikely to cease any time soon, the electric and electronic industry actually overtook car producers as the most important client for industrial robotics manufacturers in terms of earnings in the last five years, with estimated revenue increasing by 60 percent from 2016 to 2021.

Overall, revenue with robotics sales is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2024 with a compound annual growth rate of 5.1 percent between 2022 and 2027. The most important markets for industrial-use robotics are China, Japan and Germany with an estimated revenue of $1.5 billion, $1.2 billion and $710 million, respectively, in 2022. Japan is not only an important market in terms of sales, but also when it comes to manufacturing said robotics. Out of the seven leading industrial robotics manufacturers in 2020, four companies were based in the East Asian country, with Mitsubishi Electric leading the pack with a segment revenue of roughly $12 billion in their fiscal year of 2020/2021.