When the industrial revolution started work was plentiful, the majority of the population lived on farms and moved to urban areas to work in factories. The industrial revolution produced jobs and most of them paid more than what the people were making on the farm. New industries developed and the industrial revolution was on going and expanding across the UK and around the world. The new revolution is going to be a little different.

In an article by Meaghan Tobin and Keith Bradsher of the New York Times News Service, China is making and installing factory robots at a far greater pace than any other country, with the US a distant third. China already dominants global manufacturing.

There were 2 million robots working in Chinese factories according to a report related by the International Federation of Robotics, a non-profit trade group for making industrial robots. Last year more than 300,000 new robots last year, the US installed 34,000.

The government has used public capital and policy directives to spur Chinese companies to spur Chinese companies to become leaders in robotics.

As technology helps factories become more efficient, some are making do with fewer workers and altering the role of others.

China’s drive for factory automation has been a key part of achieving its position as the world’s largest manufacturing powerhouse. At the start of this year, factories in China were making nearly 1/3 of all manufactured good worldwide, more than the US, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britian combined.

Until last year, China installed more imported robots than domestically made ones. But last year, nearly 3/5’s of the robots installed in China were also made in the country.

In 2015, Beijing made it a top priority for China to become globally competitive in robotics as part of its Made in China 2025 campaign to import fewer advanced manufactured goods. To do this, industries received almost unlimited access to state-controlled banks at low interest rates as well as help in buying foreign competitors, direct infusions of government money and other assistance. In 2021, the government issued a detailed national strategy for expanded deployment of robots.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, it many companies the eco system that develops becomes the defining nature of the company. The eco system develops because the parent company has the resources to allow companies to develop for the long term with relatively low cost of funding. It takes a great deal of money and effort to dislodge the dominance, although it is possible. Those barriers are what you are investing in and expecting they will remain for the foreseeable future.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.