Dongguan Empowers Manufacturing City with Tax Incentives to Unlock New Industrial Opportunities

Dongguan: Tax Incentives Empowering the “Manufacturing City” to Unlock New Industrial Paths

Recently, at the inaugural Beijing Yizhuang Robot Warrior Challenge, the Embodied Tiangong 3.0 from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center showcased an impressive performance, earning the title of the world’s first champion. The following day, during the 2026 Beijing Yizhuang Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, the self-developed humanoid robot “Lightning” clinched victory with a time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, breaking the human half marathon record.

Both of these remarkable robots feature components manufactured in Dongguan, known as the “World Factory.” Currently, over 7,000 robotics-related enterprises are based in Dongguan, making it the third-largest hub in the country. The Dongguan Municipal Tax Bureau has recently introduced several measures to support the city’s manufacturing sector, particularly in key fields like artificial intelligence, low-altitude economy, robotics, and smart terminals. These initiatives aim to enhance companies’ innovation capabilities and technical expertise, driving new breakthroughs in Dongguan’s “Innovation-Driven Development” strategy.

Dongguan’s “Joints” Secure a Strong Position in the Supply Chain

In 2025, Dongguan’s industrial robot production reached 26,300 units, marking a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. Achieving smooth and flexible movements in both industrial and humanoid robots depends heavily on their agile “joints.” Newger Intelligent Drive (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., a high-tech enterprise focused on developing and manufacturing robot joint actuators, has made significant strides in the field of bio-inspired autonomous motion robots. Its actuators are now part of the supply chains for several high-end robot manufacturers and have been included in the Blue Book on the Development of Humanoid Robotics in China (2024).

“Every product upgrade stems from customer feedback and our commitment to technological iteration,” said Cao Xiaolin, General Manager of Newger Intelligent. As the humanoid robot industry evolves rapidly, demands for the performance of key components like joints are becoming increasingly diverse and stringent. To enhance market competitiveness, the company is continuously increasing its investment in research and development.

“Our R&D expenses are numerous and varied, requiring precise consolidation and clear declarations to fully benefit from policy support,” Cao explained. The local tax department actively utilizes big data to monitor companies’ R&D activities, providing tailored policy interpretations and assisting businesses in clarifying data related to labor and materials used in R&D projects. “In the past three years, our company has benefited from over 13 million yuan in additional deductions for R&D expenses, which translates to a tax reduction of more than 2 million yuan,” Cao noted.

According to the 2024 corporate income tax reconciliation data, over 9,400 enterprises in Dongguan have benefited from the R&D expense additional deduction policy, with total additional deductions exceeding 85 billion yuan.

Startups in Dongguan Stand Out on New Industrial Paths

With innovative features like spinning, jumping, splitting, and magnetic joining, the global first modular robot with detachable wheel groups, developed by Benmo Technology, made a stunning appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Guangdong Provincial Urban Football Super League on April 25. In just over five years, this startup has become a leading player in domestic robotic power modules, expanding its focus from upstream technical solutions to downstream end products, introducing various wheeled and footed intelligent robots. By 2025, Benmo Technology had delivered millions of robotic power modules, with its wheeled robots widely used in industrial inspections, logistics, smart parks, and educational research, serving hundreds of robotics companies.

While Benmo Technology excels in the “feet” of robots, Mo Xian Technology (Dongguan) Co., Ltd. focuses on enhancing the “hands.” As the humanoid robot industry rapidly develops, tactile sensors that give robots a sense of touch have become a significant area of interest within the supply chain. Since its establishment in 2021, Mo Xian Technology has concentrated on the production, development, and sale of flexible tactile sensors, applying them to consumer electronics in smart home, healthcare, and IoT sectors.

“By embedding flexible pressure sensors within humanoid robot fingers, we can provide feedback on pressure distribution, enabling precise control over grasping force and confirming whether an object is effectively picked up,” demonstrated Kuang Zheng, the founder of Mo Xian Technology, while applying pressure to the finger sensor of a humanoid robot. Since achieving mass production in June 2023, the company has partnered with multiple humanoid robot enterprises, experiencing a tenfold increase in orders and expanding its production line from a few hundred square meters to several thousand. It has successfully completed multiple batches of large-scale deliveries.

The secret behind the success of startups like Benmo Technology and Mo Xian Technology lies in their bold innovations within niche markets. “Choosing to specialize in tactile sensors requires not only the courage of a startup but also support from the regional innovation ecosystem,” Kuang said. Their location in Songshan Lake Scientific City, which hosts national-level facilities and platforms such as the China Spallation Neutron Source and Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, has fostered a complete ecological chain for original innovation, entrepreneurial transformation, and supply chain collaboration, providing fertile ground for tech startups.

To support the development of new forces in the robotics industry, the local tax department has launched the “Song Tax Three Experts Assistance Program,” mobilizing skilled young officials to track and analyze the growth trends of innovative startups using tax big data. This initiative helps companies like Mo Xian Technology navigate daily tax management, including R&D production and tax filing processes, encouraging them to complete tax declarations and apply for applicable preferential policies in a more standardized manner. “During our startup phase, we struggled with the requirements for declaring additional deductions for R&D expenses, but tax officials provided detailed guidance that greatly helped us,” Kuang stated.

In 2025, Dongguan released the “Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovative Development of the Intelligent Robot Industry (2025-2027)” along with supporting measures, aiming to establish an industrial cluster generating over 100 billion yuan in revenue by 2027. In 2026, Dongguan further solidified its focus on technology-driven industrial development, particularly in artificial intelligence and robotics, pushing for pilot validations of humanoid robots in manufacturing and striving to build a “City of Comprehensive Scene Innovation.” Through systematic measures involving policy, funding, platforms, and talent, Dongguan is driving the robotics industry towards high-quality development.

A relevant official from the Dongguan Tax Bureau stated that the city’s robotics industry is characterized by a complete supply chain, diverse application scenarios, and active startups. The tax department will continue to enhance the “Policy Outreach” mechanism, strengthen precise policy dissemination and compliance guidance, and support companies in achieving stable and sustainable growth through innovation.