Bipartisan U.S. Robotics Panel Warns of Widening Deployment Gap With China

The National Security Commission on Robotics for Advanced Manufacturing, a bipartisan SCSP initiative, released its 90-page preliminary report on October 13, 2026. It finds the U.S. leads in robotics AI and software but lags in deployment scale: China installed about 354,200 industrial robots in 2025 (59% of the global total) versus 38,400 in the U.S. A final report with recommendations is due in March 2027.

• China installed 354,200 industrial robots in 2025, 59% of the global total; the U.S. installed 38,400
• China's operational robot stock topped 2 million versus 393,700 in the U.S. (8.3% of global)
• U.S. robot density is about 307 per 10,000 manufacturing workers, ranking eighth worldwide
• The commission's final report with recommendations is scheduled for March 2027