Robots Are Taking Over Chinese Factories | WSJ Tech News Briefing
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Chinese factories are installing robots almost as fast as the rest of the world combined. But China is still playing catchup to other industrial economies when it comes to automation.
WSJ Asia economics reporter Jason Douglas joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss why China is pivoting now and what the shift could mean for the global economy.
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Photo: Vincent Yu / Associated Press
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#China #Automation #WSJ
China's per capita GDP is higher than many European countries. China's dominance in manufacturing is due to its complete supply chains, superb infrastructure, highly productive labors, efficient logistics, low energy cost, favorable government policies and top-of-the-line technologies. Robots and Automation will further enhance China's dominance in manufacturing as it will offsets its elevated labor cost.
Not really many. Only Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Bulgaria and Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia.
@@galoise5364 But China still grows at 6% per year. In 4-5 years, it will be more than majority of European countires.
@@galoise5364 Bosnia & Herzhegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Turkey.
@@galoise5364 There are hundreds of cities in China with a per capita income of over 20000 US dollars, and cities with high coastal living standards are equivalent to those in Western Europe. These cities have a population of nearly 500 million, which is equivalent to the population of the European Union. Another 800 million people are between 8000 and 20000 US dollars, and there are also tens of millions of poor people with incomes between 5000 and 8000 US dollars. They are both developed and developing countries, and their overall living standards are equivalent to those of Eastern or Southern Europe, For those living standards around 20000 US dollars, within a maximum of 5 years, China's per capita income will reach around 20000 US dollars. By then, China will generate a middle class of over 700 million, equivalent to half of their country's population. Because I have lived in China and am more aware than the so-called Western media, their rural car penetration rate is also between 60% -70%, and the Western media will show you the lowest level areas, Actually, if you have been to China, you will understand how serious Western counterfeiting is
@@galoise5364 You can go and see those countries with per capita living standards that are similar to China, where the car penetration rate is nearly 70%. They live in more apartments, but it does not mean their quality of life is poor. Many countries in the world are far inferior to them. Their neighboring country, South Korea, is nearly three times higher than China, but the same thing is more than three times more expensive. In China, South Koreans are as high as one million or more, accounting for one third of their domestic population, Concentrated in Beijing and eastern coastal cities, Shanghai has as many as 300000 Japanese people
It always surprise me that people still think China dominate manufacturing due to abundant cheap labours. That was true 20 years ago but things have long since changed.
Chinese labour gets 3X the pay of South Asian labour
It still has it, but high tech innovation is thriving as well
true, China is actually more expensive than Southeast Asia. Even Southeast Asia is becoming more expensive. I think only Africa and South Asia that still has dirt cheap labors.
This is all because China is classified as a "developing country"
It is true to some extent though.
If you visit the Eastcoast of China, you will see the advanced, bustling and full of smart people.
But if you visit the West of China like Xinjiang, Tibet.
You will see why China is still a developing country.
However, China is focusing on developing the West, so 10 years from now i believe things will dramatically change.
Most people are not used to the fast pace that China is developing and changing.
this is why China is not so worried about demographic decline. Robotic tech, AI, 3D printing are getting more mature and cheaper. In fact, I wonder what countries like India will do to face this technology challenge? How are they going to keep providing jobs to millions of new babies every year?
India can’t even properly house, feed, educate and employ the population it has now let alone the hundreds of millions more that it is projected to house in the next few decades. Indian people en mass are moving aboard looking for jobs and a better life, from the poor laborers in the Gulf Countries to IT workers and doctors moving to the West. There’s a no way a country will develop and prosper when it’s human capital, both professional and labor, keeps fleeing. It’s great for the West because it gets hundreds of thousands of highly educated tax payers and their families every year but the brain drain will ensure that India never truly reach its potential of development.
quite true. I am Chinese and I confirm.
Perhaps you also know that now "dark workshops" are becoming common in China manifacture, where there is no need for lights because they are robotic assembly lines.
India gets more employement in service sector .. providing services . Unlikke china
Export them
I can't wait for AI to start replacing CEOs etc, since they are so highly paid it would make sense to automate the management jobs.
😅😅😅😅😅 true that
So then you'd have a robot that could say "You're fired!"
Lol what? That is terrible dude
Some positions such as accountants would be obsolete soon with A.I and machine learning. We have already softwares that handle individual taxes.
Likely not a future we want as that would mean Ai would replace the highest skilled humans. At which point why keep us around? Unlike others I prefer the preservation of our species thank you.
One example about Chinese manufacturing being more than just cheap labor is Cigarette lighters: How cheap can you make a lighter?
It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a boring generic plastic product that is (1) able to light things up, and (2) as cheap as possible.
The BIC(French) lighters costs 16 US cents back in 1987, now they are around 20 cents apiece to manufacture.
On the other hand, modern Chinese manufacturers are making them at a cost just under 2 US cents apiece, and if you are willing to pay for shipping you can get them at ~3 cents apiece in bulk today.
At that price level you can't afford any low-level workers, and instead everything has to be automated.
You can't cut corners too far either because even a 1% defect rate is going to cost more than the savings from the cut corners.
It takes an incredible amount of expertise in product engineering, logistics, automation, and quality control to make such a mundane product as a lighter.
This was predicted for a while, it is time to switch to the kind of jobs where you control and build technologies. Great video, thank you!
"One of the reasons we didn't have an inflation problem for the last 20, 30 years is because China plugged itself into the global economy all its cheap labor and cheap products help keep inflation dying."
And the western media NEVER appreciate that, instead, they complain Chinese trade surplus issue (eg. the USA), and countries like Australia so get used to riding on the back of China's economic rise, and they even consider it is their right to do so, and thinking they have the luxury to sit on their trade incomes questioning China dare to be different with their politics, value, and way of thinking.
now the US is trying to 'decouple' from china and feeling the consequences of losing access to chinese products.
And now India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Mexico would replace China.
Meanwhile western MSM collectively claim that China is using forced labour 😂😂😂😂
Without China We the people around the world have to pay 1000 times to Americans to maintain their high standard of living. Thanks China !!!
Some do not all
It is force labor indeed. they forced robots to work 24x7, with no pay.😂😂😂
The Chinese are very intelligent. They work hard and at a reasonable cost. They have the best customer service . India would have to learn from them. India is a long way behind China in development and customer service, but acts like China.
Within 20 years, China will be stronger than any other country combined.
Very interesting! Nicely done.
China is already a top-notch in AI. So it is not surprising to maintain its world class, high value chain manufacturing.
China is good at facial recognition but do we know if China is good at robotics AI?
@@slomo4672 Same thing.
An the AI says Putin is the wrong horse to back !
Chinese AI my erse😂
@@slomo4672 America and EU have too many regulations on A.I and ethical codes, this prevent progress in certain scientific fields.
China just lets their companies and government agencies run wide without a break.
The amount of data they collected everyday, the amount of unethical researches like human DNA modification, biological weapons like Covid-19....
I wouldn't be surprised if China will invent the real Skynet by 2030
One warehouse here they have robots doing the work and only 13 or so workers. The robots are very productive. Just routine maintenance and they will go.
A 1,000 worker BYD factory pumps out 450+ cars per day, with 5-star rating from the EU for quality.
Not a single car factory in the EU or US can compete.
You can’t imagine how western countries live without made in China as well as the inflation rate
" middle income trap" is what they want to avoid.
Very good reporting
Just wondering if you left something out that is important - what about the cost decline curve for robotics and overall improvements in the technology especially when paired with AI?
Reporters are typically ignorant of such things.
Don't worry, as long as the market has demand, it will push capital to do it, and capital will not miss any opportunity to make money.
China is really quick at adapting to industrial trends.
Education is top priority of almont every chinese family. China has 8-10million uni graduates every year which is 1/3 of the world. That is reason China is and will be top manufacturer even next 50-100 years.
actually a good insight and reporting
We have to learn from chinese peoples , how we can increase our productivity by using technology. I appreciate chinese peoples hard work.
👈👈👈
First you have to make choices of industry. Then choice of robots and organisations of the robots mix and match. Then installations of work flow. Modifier of software necessary for specific learning.
4:49
updating of information
China overtakes USA in robot density
according to World Robotics 2022 Report
Interesting 👍
Thanks for sharing! Very useful information. I did find the video lose flow because you chose static images of you and Jason for the interview. Maybe next time you can have moving image for the interview as well.
Anyway, thanks for sharing
US will soon investigate human rights violations for the robots used in China manufacturing 😂😂😂😂
😂
It is another way of forced labor.
Low-skill workers are being ruled out in more and more areas. That's a determined future.
Many large major factories in China are already highly automated.
To give you an example, the best selling electric vehicle (EV) in the luxury category in China is a Chinese EV called HiPhi X :
ruclips.net/video/MLffQ9ESSTI/видео.html
As the company was new, the first buyers last year were treated as VIPs. And one of them (a real estate youtuber) eventually had the privilege of given a private tour of the car factory.
The guy was absolutely dumbfounded. The factory had very few human workers. The whole factory was mostly automated (at least the parts he was shown).
I would imagine many other EV factories are probably quite similar
if u read marx automation is actually the dream condition for the productive forces
チン毛
The Wallstreet Jornal needs to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees
Good analysis from Jason Douglas, thank you
It is wrong to say that China's economic growth rate is high.
China's real estate bubble has burst.
Anything china does is somehow looked at suspiciously . Lol 😂
Americans are just pissed that China beating them in factory automation.
Because they do things suspiciously, and they're not transparent, it's shady work. Look at the uyghurs, being torture
That's the narrative what US is pushing out the world!
Shut up. The americans need to feel they are superior
Finally a decent reporter here. Jason Douglas seems to be well informed unlike the 20 something child reporters normally heard here.
I worked in warehousing many years and some dangerous factories and it's a miserable existence I left it's work better suited to machines
Great Podcast📢
Yo Zo, I need help with inflationary pressure.
THE country with the largest population getting robots to do work,,,crazy
@chris craven you should worry about your country and china have UBI than the west.
这是大势所趋，与其让别人做，还不如我们自己做
American be like:
Wasn't china supposed to be getting old and loosing their work Force and.going to collapse
But.....
....
Is it machines or Chinese
Making my iPhone?
those mecha-communists man.
Germany is the most automated economy in the EU - that "expert" did not even mention it. It is equal to Japan. And it also makes a high percentage of robots albeit not as many as Japan.
In fact, I think I saw a KUKA robot in the video. One of the best industrial robot companies in the world and highly trusted by Chinese customers.
@@tonglu3699 Of course it will be ,It's owned by a Chinese company called Midea group.
He mentioned, pay attention
@@ASK-ko9qx Ah, I heard Midea acquired majority ownership in a robot company but didn't know it's KUKA. I suspect the trust and goodwill came first, which then led to the acquisition, not the other way around. When the main choice is between Japanese or German, Chinese people always choose German.
that title may not be held for much longer china increased its robot/worker density by more than 20% from 2020 to 2021. It may already be neck and neck with Germany and Japan
Do not become obsessed with
material possessions that are unattainable.
Why not ship the robots here rather than the goods?
Their society is about the face a huge population decline so this will probably be a good thing for their economy in the coming years. Chinese workers are shifting into service jobs as their society and economy develops and slowly turn into a more advanced economy. The only reason why the US is not facing the same thing is because we let in millions of people a year into our labor force.
truth! the US will always be stocked with fresh recruits!
Robots do not produce value. It creates a falling rate or profit and overproduction, The source of all capitalist crisis. The Chinese leadership understands this and realises that it must eventually begin the process of reorganising labor in order to avert the crisis of all the other post industrial economies (i.e. Socialism)
Millions of people with different beliefs and ethnic.
Half of them are probably scheming to overthrow the establishments.
@@1MinuteFlipDoc and soon the usa of 2030s will be very differennnnt from usa of 1950s
I thought it's because the US can find another country with cheap labor to provide cheap product, atm, India. Unfortunately it didn't catch up with the manufacturing capacity the US requires...
Thanks a lot 🇺🇲 🇵🇱
They are forced labors, not being paid and jailed in the factory. They have 1 common name = "robot".
You are talking horseshit.
And when they couldn't get a free labour they jailed people in concentration camp.
And yet, they are still wealthier than you. Shouldn't that make you sad?
Mmm the factories that havent gone Bankrupt yet.
China is actually ahead in robot density only behind SK, Japan, Singapore, Germany. Should be concerning that the US commentator consider themselves ahead when behind by 37%, and I am talking density not total
0:41 wow robots doing their morning workout.
So someone is still installing three stews at the end of the line? 😂😂😂
happens in almost all automated factories, need at least a few humans to manage things. But that's changing as well. Eventually no people will be around
@@cassinitakano5736 past tense
@@cassinitakano5736 "eventually no people will around"
You mean factory or the whole Earth when Skynet takes over?
@@Commievn eventually robotics will so advanced that no humans will be needed at any factories. Simple
Is it just me, but both Zoe and Jason sound like robots reading off script...?
Yep, they sounded too perfect lol.
The robot that replace 10 workers, did the calculation factor in workers work for 8 hours/day, that means the robot has a magnitude of time 3, also the robot can increase the speed of operation once it have muster her line of work. If you didn't factor this, its fair to state one robot has a hypothetical potential to replace over 30 workers per robot. That one robot, how many times will it broken down in a year. Have in mind the robot can sense its motors performance, replacing that will be so cheap to a level we cant state that theirs someone hired to be replacing motors or motherboards. From that angle how many people will it hire to maintain it, the other layman's reasoning is, we will be building this robots. How on earth will that happen, the robots will build themselves. Just a few will design, therefore the ratio of workers replaces cant keep up with jobs created by this robots.
Based on my experience with other complex technologies, a ratio of one human babysitter for 200 robots is very possible.
@@jimpad5608 thanks for correcting my simulation assumption, error-ed due to insufficient data.
China is the most industrialised economy in human history right now. 🇨🇳
They're manufacturing our stuff for us; that doesn't make them more industrialized, it just means they get all the pollution.
@William Sullivan Yup American are working in sweatshops, good old model.
@William Sullivan , Where is the "here" you are referring to? Detroit?
@William Sullivan Ty for your contribution to our comments section
The guest contradicts this at 4:29
Are these 2 AI talking to each other?
i dont think
Andrew Yang was Right...AI is going to take over low paying skill job...soon people will wish they got UBI....
The more industrialized with robots, the more elemental technology emerges. Robots are more suitable for helping people than replacing people. When the robot works 24 hours a day, the parts are degradting. Even in the case of kiosks, it looks like a person’s replacement, but it’s outsourcing the kiosk’s maintenance for other company. If you install fully robot facilities, the more maintenance manpower will increase accordingly and 24hours control and observe all robot’s data and functions, quality control etc..
robot is for quality of product, not reduce of worker..
False - robots are very reliable so a few humans can easily babysit hundreds of robots.
Human beings should never work at all. They should be at the beach and chill. Let them ROBOTS do all the work.
👍👍👍👌👌👌👏👏👏
However robotics use an enormous amounts of electricity. Most of it generated in totally unregulated coal plants polluting the whole world. Here in the US and the West we generate relatively clean energy so they still are a world wide nightmare, and lower wages all over.
Do you know how powerful China's photovoltaic technology is? Do you know that China is the leader in clean energy? e.g. electric car
The biggest reason that people don't know is that china's population is aging fast. In about 30 years 200 million Chinese workforce will be gone. And 300 million seniors will need to be taken care of.
Naive Americans has decline too, the population pop up by illegal migrant.
@@kongwee1978 Yeah that's why america will prosper and china will fall. China is a xenophobic racist society that accepts close to 0 immigrants. The usa accepts millions every year
China is investing heavily into automation, AI, robotic, and anti aging bio tech. In 30 years, they want to replacing much human manual labor as possible. Anti aging tech to reverse aging population problem. Trillion invested into these tech.
@@100c0c They succeed in automation and move up the value chain. Become one of the wealthiest countries in Asia.
NO worry ... They'll have COVID in every few years to control the population. Old slaves are no use for the murderers in Beijing.
Hi my Pleasure (00:58)? What is going on over there at WSJ? :)
okay. so then if everything is automated moving the factories and production back to the U.S. shouldn't be a big deal. we no longer need to manufacture anything in china.
Your energy cost and business cost is much more higher in US compared to china. Not to mention the berauecracy, etc etc. Businessman like steve jobs, elon musk love less regulation and of course huge market like china 😁😁😁
So, do this in the US.
That requires political will and things like a national industrial policy that forces companies to do what is best for society instead of shareholders. "Free Enterprise" is sacred in the USA even if it destroys the country.
The biggest reason for a wall is so new people are intelligent, I have that problem (stupidity) with my coworkers south of San Jose, California in 1997
11:00 SANCHEZ ARRESTED SO END.
How many $22 per hour fast food workers in California going to get replace with these
Swear there all robots
Cuz they don't want to lose their status of manufacturing country even tho the lack of young ppl.
.
China isn't lacking people. They still haven't utilized all the people living in rural areas. If China needs more people, they have artificial wombs that can grow babies. So, they will be completely fine.
No, that's not really the issue. China has a lot of young people. Intact, majority of young people in china are unemployed. So if Chinese companies needed young people so much, unemployment rate in young people wouldn't be so high.
The reason china is investing heavily in this , is (I agree) to maintain their status as a global manufacturing country, but also, to escape the middle income trap.
China wants to still be able to reproduce advanced tech, and products at a very cheap price compared to other countries, because this is important for china.
It's very critical
@@jukio02 this way is cheaper. the question is what this workforce is gonna do.
@@jukio02 Is it that simple?
People are retiring
An alternative to cheap labour is just a beginning.. In the next phase AI will replace skilled labor as well.. what does this mean for humanity ?
Communism, working for fun
Simple "humans need not apply." Wealth will have to redistributed from the wealthy to the 99%.
Either enslavement by the people who have the means of production leading to revolution and collapse or post scarcity future where people have their needs and possibly wants fulfilled and only work for passion or fun.
I have predicted this many years ago, and no-one believed me then. (And some still don't)
The thing is, ANYTHING we can do, robots + AI will be able to do it better.
*ALL* jobs will be replaceable by robots. There will be NO exceptions.
That future is coming regardless of whether we like it or not.
( PS. But I had also predicted many years ago that eventually humans and robots will merge. Perhaps to the point that only the brain is left that is more human than robot.
But even then, we will most likely *STILL* be replaced by full robots eventually.)
Past tense
if modi/jayshankar/indiam falcon change there mindset just follow china education not confrontation they will be a great power.. if not will take 100years for india..
OOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo
3:35 “You could find thousand of workers and pay them relatively nothing.” #fixed
is US jealous?
Teach Chinese and they teach Chinese 😂😂
China has 600 futuristic cities with state-of-the-art brand-new infrastructures. 🇨🇳
USA has 200 cities with crumbling infrastructures where every day either a bridge collapses or we see a train derailment. 🇺🇸
We have the best army in the would in the us and the biggest economy and we have human right well you have have limited rights and don’t have free will and are communists
Lol yet no one is rushing to move to China. I wonder why
Also what bull sh$t has china been telling its people
You are commenting all over the place get out of here you Chinese bot.
Massive production, taking over exports…
The machines are going to take all the jobs. There will not be enough workers. Both are forecasts for the future by the "experts".
And what is wrong with that? people can do skilled work instead and the saving from automation can be distributed for welfare purposes.
Better than emotional, selfish humans
Ai can't do every job
The...Chinese...people....are..inttelligent....they...also....economical..
I want one of those new "Rubber Robot Mrs."..
The one I got now is.. worn-out, smells, makes bad noises and cant make sandwiches properly..
80’s little kids. Shut. Up. Go home.
Belloooossss llequeeee
Do we have a Detroit situation taking place at an advanced and mass scale? 🤔
Detroit was deindustrialise.
Llequeeee belloooossss
only cobots
I like her voice. otherwise anyone can do this, basically reading off a script
GOOD THING THEY AQUIRED KUKA 3 years ago
And people says China is stealing jobs. China is always pivot for progress, not old days economics having vast blue or manual jobs…
Ofcourse Japan's no.1 in robotics
Their population is going to cut in half. Theyre aging and one child per family for 30 years.
Even half population of Chinese
Is equal to 700 million 😅😅
Clearly they are going to be a 2nd most populated country for upcoming 100 years
not anymore.
Almighty God will set everything right now
Looks like China will be the most advanced 😅 economy.
In Lithuania we have song: "Robot is a human too". Robots are cute 😊😊😊
I heard Putin was going to bomb Lithuania with nuclear weapons. Is it real?
Yay Luxury AI communism
I wonder if robot labors can manufacture military equipment & weapons 🤔
the worrisome thing will be when these robots get tired of taking orders and rebel.
I can tell you for sure. This is possible. This is why the Chinese Navy can build a British Royal Fleet every year.
You should be more afraid of whether robot labor USES such weaponry against humans. It is already happening with drones.
Wht I said u 5 percent people are dead for me..
I'm Chinese, it's true.
Modern factories are all robots.
The era of the demographic dividend is over.
Although India has a huge population, 99% of people are unskilled.
China had a demographic dividend in the past, because the Internet, electronic technology, and machinery manufacturing were not very developed at that time.
This well end bad. We will be without purpose
99% people are not unskilled in India.....stop believing in chinese propaganda
Good to see more companies are exiting China
China is too big now , doesn't necessarily need foreign companies, as they have their own companies. Apple , etc leaving will not affect china , as china have multiple smartphones brands manufacturing in china and elsewhere.
China needed these companies back when it was still developing, like any other countries.
Now they really do not
@@MitchellC03 lol
That's called wishful thinking
You don't even make any sense.
Companies leaving china doesn't mean the US stops trading with china.
Companies are only leaving china as it's seen as a hostile environment for business, also, cheap labor is gone.
They will only stop "manufacturing" their products in china.
But they will still sell most of their products to china.
And the US will still be trading with china.
China will still be manufacturing, and trading with the US.
China will now be manufacturing their own products, instead of foreign products.
And this in itself is a good thing for their economy.
It's true if China and the US stopped trading, China's economy would collapse.
Because they are both mutually dependent on each other, but China is not dependent on US companies.
It doesn't need American companies as it has it's own companies all over the country.
Thanks to the skyrocketing energy cost, high inflation elsewhere, manufacturing are actually moving into China rather than out.
Yup, sweatshops are leaving China to India!
@@MitchellC03 China is creating new market in all developing countries through BRI. Contract on US sure, but not elsewhere.
they better pay the robots overtime, or they will create a union.
China is going to adopt UBI in the future.
Sounds pretty Communist tbh
@@cassinitakano5736 Sounds like it, but it's not.
@@jukio02 Will it work? That's a million dollar question
@@cassinitakano5736 We shall see. If robots start taking jobs away from humans, then those humans won't have anything to do. No job means no economy. The government will have to come to solution. UBI is one solution. That, or make it illegal to use machines to do all the work.
stop the chat bubbles , show your face. will cancel subscription if the WSJ YT doesn’t get it together, RUclips is VIDEO