Imagine a factory hall that is almost dark, yet production is running at full speed. In China, an increasing number of “dark factories” are being built where advanced robots work around the clock. These robots never go to the bathroom, and no one has ever heard them complain.
In industrial cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, a nearly imperceptible revolution is under way. Workers are being replaced by robots that weld, assemble, lift and transport goods without interruption. At the electronics manufacturer Foxconn, nearly 200,000 workers have been replaced by robots in just a few years. At one factory alone, the workforce has been reduced from 110,000 to 50,000 since 2016.
“You notice the silence as the door slides shut behind you,” I read in a Chinese magazine. “Not an empty silence, but a dense, electric calm filled with humming, brief bursts of compressed air and the dry click of relays switching on and off. The light is dim, almost like twilight, because no one inside needs illumination.”
In industrial cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, a nearly imperceptible revolution is under way. Workers are being replaced by robots that weld, assemble, lift and transport goods without interruption. At the electronics manufacturer Foxconn, nearly 200,000 workers have been replaced by robots in just a few years. At one factory alone, the workforce has been reduced from 110,000 to 50,000 since 2016.
“You notice the silence as the door slides shut behind you,” I read in a Chinese magazine. “Not an empty silence, but a dense, electric calm filled with humming, brief bursts of compressed air and the dry click of relays switching on and off. The light is dim, almost like twilight, because no one inside needs illumination.”
The magazine describes the factory floor as a grid of thin blue lines. Along these lines, small driverless vehicles glide silently back and forth, each carrying a load of components on its way to the next station. They stop precisely, pivot a few degrees, and continue. No one shouts, and no one waves them forward, for traffic is guided by an invisible map known only to the machines.
“Further inside, behind low safety fences, the robot arms are at work,” the article continues. “They behave like dancers who have mastered their choreography down to the smallest detail. Everywhere, small green and blue diodes blink. Digital eyes stare tirelessly at what is being produced. Every movement is measured and monitored. If something deviates by a fraction of a millimeter, the line pauses for half a second, adjusts, and resumes. No irritation. No fatigue. No breaks.”
China’s population of 1.4 billion has begun to shrink. Last year alone, it fell by 3.4 million. “The number of births last year was roughly at the same level as in 1738, when our country had 150 million inhabitants,” the demographer Yi Fuxian noted recently. In the worst case, China may have only 700 million people by the end of the century. Yi and other demographers describe the trend as “unreal, exceptional and frightening.”
Can the robot become a salvation in a critical time?
Yes, experts say — though with clear reservations. In China, as in other countries, robots are best suited to industries where work is repetitive, precise and easy to standardize. In other words, tasks that have until now been performed by large numbers of low-paid factory workers.
Much of today’s advanced manufacturing takes place at a micron level where human hands have their limits. Mobile phones, circuit boards and semiconductors are good examples. Robots equipped with artificial vision can place, solder and inspect at a speed and with a precision that humans cannot compete with. This explains why Foxconn is investing so heavily in automation.
Another example in the same industry is Xiaomi, known as one of the world’s largest smartphone producers. Two years ago, it opened a factory north of Beijing covering an area the size of eleven football fields. Virtually the entire production process is carried out by robot arms and autonomous machines. The factory therefore has minimal need for lighting and ventilation.
Other industries being “robotized” at high speed include the automotive sector, warehousing and logistics. Car manufacturing is almost tailor-made for robots. Welding car bodies, painting, assembling heavy components and battery packs for electric vehicles require millimeter precision and high repetition. Robots have worked side by side with humans here for decades, but in China the pace of automation is accelerating rapidly, especially in EV plants.
The robotics industry is a national priority. As early as 2015, it was explicitly highlighted in the strategic document “Made in China 2025.” The goal was to make the country less dependent on foreign high technology and to build strong domestic suppliers. Equally important was strengthening industrial competitiveness at a time of rising wages and a rapidly aging population.
The effort has since been followed up with more detailed programs. In 2021, the authorities launched a five-year plan for the robotics industry, now nearing completion. Manufacturers are proliferating across the country. The largest companies, such as Siasun, Estun and Efort, have received strong support through public programs and state procurement.
According to the International Federation of Robotics, China had more than two million industrial robots in operation by the end of 2024. No country has more, and the number is increasing by at least 300,000 each year. At the country’s leading universities, robotics and artificial intelligence are priority fields, and the sharpest minds in the industry are more sought after than ever. Many are returning home from the United States and other countries to contribute their expertise.
But however efficient a robot may be, it does not pay taxes. Nor does it participate in the wider economic cycle. For several years, Chinese leaders have sought to make the country less dependent on exports and to stimulate domestic consumption. This strategy presupposes wage earners who purchase goods and services — but robots buy nothing. With more robots and fewer workers, demand for everything from paper clips to housing slows.
Some have suggested that companies investing heavily in robots should pay a form of “robot tax.” The idea has also been discussed in the West, notably by Bill Gates, who argues that the social fabric could otherwise unravel. In China, the authorities remain cautious, as the country’s future depends on rapid technological modernization.
Others argue that the solution must lie in radical tax reform. China has so far had an inadequate system for taxing inheritance and property, and the country’s wealthiest citizens often contribute relatively little to the common good. Expanding the tax base and introducing stricter measures against tax evasion may become necessary to safeguard the welfare state in a critical period.
It is also sobering that automation primarily affects workers with little formal education — precisely the group that streamed from the countryside to the factories and became the backbone of China’s growing middle class. Are they now to become unemployed? As robots take over, it becomes harder for new generations to make the same economic leap.
“The gap between high and low in China is already large enough,” says Professor of Economics Li Shi, who has written extensively on the subject. Repeated surveys show that income inequality in China is almost as great as in the United States.
Now he and others fear that the robot will make a difficult situation even worse.
