This story comes up every couple of years – when will the robots take over in the industrial heartland of Guangdong province? The debate has been sparked again because of the continuing rise in costs in China's factories, the ongoing labour shortage in the region, and also a desire to move the workforce up the value chain and to promote innovation.
By 2017, Guangdong province wants 1,950 factories to have replaced human labour with robots, mostly in the manufacture of cars, motorcycles, household appliances, hardware, electronics and building materials.
The deputy governor of Guangdong, Xu Shaohua, wants to encourage more research into developing intelligent robots to drive mass innovation.
More than 60 per cent of industrial companies in the manufacturing hub of Dongguan, near Shenzhen, have reportedly begun replacing humans with robots. Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant, recently said it had begun introducing more robot technology at its plants in southern China.
However, local managers are fearful of initial investment costs, which is where the local government comes in with subsidies.
