THG News · Market Analysis

IFR: Factory Robot Stock Hits 5 Million as 2025 Installations Top 600,000

· Updated

The global operational stock of industrial robots rose 9% to a record 5 million units in 2025, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) said on September 24, 2026, when it released its World Robotics 2026 report in Frankfurt. The IFR said the increase was driven by an 11% jump in annual installations, with factories worldwide installing more than 600,000 new units during the year.

"Industrial automation is progressing at high speed," IFR President Jane Heffner said in the release. The IFR said the five million mark is more than double the number of factory robots in operation seven years earlier, and that growth is strongest in Asia, followed by the Americas, while Europe is moving more slowly.

China leads, the US moves to second

China installed 354,000 industrial robots in 2025, up 20% year on year and equal to 59% of global installations, according to the IFR. Chinese suppliers accounted for 55% of the robots installed in China, the IFR said in a separate China release. By customer industry, the IFR reported 96,400 units for electrical and electronics makers in China, up 16%, 78,900 for the automotive industry, up 38%, and 78,700 for metal and machinery, up 44%. Heffner attributed China's results to a national robotics strategy launched ten years ago, according to the IFR.

The United States overtook Japan as the second-largest market, with installations up 12% to nearly 38,500 units, according to the IFR. Japan installed 36,219 units, a 19% decrease, and dropped to third place, the IFR said.

Germany remained the largest market in Europe and the fifth largest worldwide, accounting for 41% of installations in the European Union, but its installations fell 8% to under 25,000 units, according to the IFR. India installed nearly 10,500 units, up 15%, and ranked sixth, the IFR said, adding that India's annual installations grew by an average of 27% a year between 2020 and 2025.

Outlook for 2026 and beyond

The IFR forecasts that global installations will rise 9% to 655,000 units in 2026 and reach 806,000 units in 2029. For China, the federation projects average annual growth of 5% to 10% through 2029, citing labor shortages and the country's 15th Five-Year Plan for 2026 to 2030, which emphasizes technological self-reliance and industrial modernization.

What the figures mean for buyers

The World Robotics figures count industrial robots actually installed in factories, so they measure realized demand rather than projections. In the IFR's 2025 data, demand is concentrated in China, the United States is growing, and Japan and Germany are both down. For buyers tracking lead times, supplier choice and pricing, that regional split is likely to matter more than the global total, since growth in one region and contraction in another can move supplier capacity and delivery schedules in different directions.

Sources