Chinese-made servos: how the industry replaced foreign robot components

Behind the flashy humanoids on trade-show floors lies a less visible but equally important story: the gradual replacement of imported components inside the robots themselves. Industry research puts China's industrial-robot servo motor market growing from RMB 4.1 billion in 2023 to RMB 7.86 billion in 2026, with domestic manufacturers' share crossing 50% for the first time. Just a few years ago, most servo motors in Chinese robots were made in Japan or Europe — today the balance has flipped.

Who leads the domestic race

Inovance holds 27.6% of the domestic servo motor market — the top spot among manufacturers. The list of leaders also includes Estun (whose company card is in the Aura Robotics catalog), LeaderHarmonious, Leadshine, HCFA, and Sinpro — competition among them is only intensifying given the segment's growth rate.

Reducers — another component that stopped being imported

A separate category that long remained a zone of dependence on foreign suppliers is harmonic reducers, a critical component for the precision of a robot's joint movement. Levo Harmonic shipped 425,200 harmonic reducers in fiscal year 2025 — up 72.48% year over year, with net profit doubling. That pace speaks not to one supplier's one-off success but to the maturity of an entire production chain — from reducers and lead screws to motors and sensors.

Why this matters more than it first appears

Estun, China's largest industrial robot manufacturer, builds its competitive edge precisely on vertical integration: its own servo motors and CNC systems give it a price advantage over Japanese and European equivalents at comparable equipment lifespan. Localizing key components reduces not only cost but exposure to sanctions and export risk — a topic that gained extra relevance amid 2026 restrictions on imports of finished robots into certain countries. Regulators, based on available signals, intend to keep subsidizing servo motor, actuator, and controller development as a strategic priority.

Industrial robots with full component localization are available in the Aura Robotics catalog.