The Caixin Robotics Industry Index (RII) was released at the Inaugural AI High-Quality Development Conference held in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Saturday.
The index, a comprehensive benchmark dedicated to the robotics sector, reached 125.1 last month, up nearly 25 percent from two years ago.
According to Caixin, Beijing topped the city robotics industry index, which measures the share of robotics-related industrial inputs in a city's overall economic inputs.
Nanjing, Xi'an, Hangzhou, and Suzhou also ranked among the top five.
In 2025, China produced more than 770,000 industrial robots and over 18 million service robots, with output expected to continue rising in the years ahead.
The climb of the index comes as robotics has been elevated in China's national planning, underscoring the sector's growing role in industrial transformation and future economic strategy, according to Wang Zhe, senior economist with the Caixin Insight, the compiler of the index.
"The robotics industry was mentioned in both the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), and the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) . Over the past five years, this industry has fully developed. From these two plans, we can see that the position of this sector has been upgraded. Five years ago, robots were just part of manufacturing upgrades, but now and looking ahead to the next five years, robotics, alongside many other emerging industries, is poised to grow into a pillar industry for China," said Wang.
Climb of robot industry index point to industrial growth
China's advances in the low-altitude economy became manifest as its first domestically developed engine specifically for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft rolled off the production line.
The AEE25 aviation electric engine, developed by the AECC (Aero Engine Corporation of China) Aeroengine Control System Institute, was delivered in Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Friday, setting a national record for torque density, meaning a lighter engine that allows the aircraft to carry more passengers or cargo.
The achievement marks a major breakthrough in key aviation electric propulsion technologies, with the engine's performance reaching internationally advanced levels.
The AEE25 converts electrical energy from onboard batteries into lift and thrust for rotor systems. The engine has achieved a torque density of 40 newton-meters per kilogram, the highest among China's publicly disclosed 200-kW-class aviation electric engines.
The engine integrates six core components -- a main motor and its controller, a cooling system motor and its controller, and a variable-pitch actuator and its controller -- into one.
"This is a highly integrated product. For aircraft manufacturers, it can start to work after being installed with the propeller and connected to power and the bus, thus simplifying the aircraft design process. In addition, the engine is designed to be safe enough, with all motors designed in duplicate, and all controllers having two channels. In the event of any single-point failure, the power output can be guaranteed," said Liu Guoping, deputy director of the AECC institute.
The AEE25 will be installed on the E20 eVTOL aircraft developed by Shanghai TCab Technology Co., Ltd (TCab Tech). The engine has also entered the airworthiness certification process alongside the aircraft program.
China's first homegrown eVTOL engine rolls off production line
