Washington: US manufacturers installed 38400 industrial robots in 2025 as labour shortages, falling technology costs and advances in artificial intelligence encouraged greater factory automation.
Installations increased 12 per cent from the previous year, allowing the US to overtake Japan as the world’s second largest robot market. China remained far ahead, installing 354200 units, or 59 percent of the global total, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Industrial robots are programmable machines used for specific tasks such as welding, assembly, packaging and moving materials. Most are mechanical arms or specialised machines, rather than human shaped robots.
The automotive industry remained the largest US customer, installing 13500 robots. Food and beverage installations rose 30 percent to 2900, while warehousing, logistics and medical businesses also increased their use of automation.
Bloomberg reported that manufacturers also cut more than 100000 jobs during 2025. The figures do not establish that robots caused those reductions, particularly because factories continue to report shortages in technical and production roles.
US government data showed 580000 manufacturing vacancies in July 2026, up from 428000 a year earlier. McKinsey estimates that returning factories to their highest utilisation levels of the past decade would require about 1.4 million additional workers if employment increased in proportion to production.
Manufacturers are therefore adopting robots while continuing to recruit workers. Falling equipment costs and easier programming are expanding automation beyond car plants, while demand for employees who can operate, maintain, and repair automated systems is rising.
