Chinese robot maker says protectionism will not stop its march

The founder of China’s largest industrial automation company believes the key role played by the country’s robot makers in keeping global supply chains running will insulate them from rising global protectionism as they try to expand overseas. Zhu Xingming, chair and founder of Shenzhen Inovance, said it hopes to challenge incumbents — which include western groups such as ABB and Siemens — for a place in the top three largest companies in the sector globally within five years. The self-made billionaire’s comments come as the west, particularly the US and the EU, increases its scrutiny of Chinese technology and hardware exports, from social media platforms and solar power to steelmakers and electric-vehicle manufacturers. “I don’t think there will be protectionist barriers in the automation field,” he said, in a Financial Times interview. “[The automation industry] should be the last barrier set up. Because our industry solves problems concerning people’s livelihood.” Inovance, the country’s biggest automation company by value with a market capitalisation of about $25bn, is China’s number one domestic supplier of parts for AC servo systems, which produce motion in industrial machines. It is the second-largest domestic producer of industrial robots and an important maker of motors and other components for electric vehicles. Dubbed “little Huawei” in the industry, Inovance was founded by a group of former Huawei engineers, including Zhu himself, and has an employee stock ownership plan and high R&D spend that are similar to the telecoms group. The company has forecast its 2023 revenues will have risen in the region of 30 per cent to about Rmb30bn ($4bn). It currently has three overseas factories, one in India and two in Hungary.

Full report : Shenzhen Inovance founder, Zhu Xingming says sanctions and protectionism wont work in robotics and automation tech is indispensable to global supply chains.