Shanghai sets 2028 target: 8,000 humanoid robots in factories

The city's next-generation intelligent manufacturing plan also targets industrial robot density of 600 per 10,000 workers by 2028.

Shanghai launched its next-generation intelligent manufacturing action on October 12, built around four major projects and 19 key tasks aimed at fusing artificial intelligence with manufacturing across the city's industrial base.

The headline numbers land in 2028: 8,000 humanoid robots deployed in factories, industrial robot density of 600 units per 10,000 workers, an AI-empowered intelligent-manufacturing equipment industry worth more than 200 billion yuan, and a 100-billion-yuan smart-manufacturing system-integration industry.

The plan also sets coverage targets for that year: every key manufacturer running a smart factory, AI applications in use across all smart factories, 500 advanced-level smart factories, 2,000 AI application scenarios in manufacturing, 10 vertical-domain AI models, 300 high-level AI agents, and new infrastructure built to serve next-generation intelligent manufacturing.

Shanghai is building from a lead. The city already counts two national lighthouse-level and 28 national excellence-level smart factories — the most of any Chinese city — and its smart-manufacturing system-integration industry tops 60 billion yuan while intelligent-manufacturing equipment output exceeds 150 billion yuan, the largest cluster in the country.

The significance is the quantification. Municipal deployment targets for humanoids have so far been vague; an explicit 8,000-unit factory goal with a 2028 deadline gives robot makers and factory operators a concrete planning benchmark — and other manufacturing hubs a number to beat.