EFT’s Journey: How a Chinese Robotics Leader is Transforming Global Markets

Multiple central media outlets have focused on Effort, decoding China’s exemplary robot export model. In 2025, China’s industrial robot exports achieved a significant milestone with a net export growth of 48.7%, marking a pivotal moment in the industry’s development. This profound transformation has drawn the attention of national media.

Recently, CCTV’s financial channel, People’s Daily Overseas Edition, and Global News Broadcast have spotlighted Effort, presenting in-depth reports from various perspectives that illustrate how a Chinese robotics company has evolved from technology follower to independent innovator, ultimately becoming a leading model for Chinese manufacturing going global.

While each media outlet emphasizes different aspects, they collectively construct a comprehensive narrative of Effort as a leader in the international expansion of China’s industrial robots:

• People’s Daily Overseas Edition interprets the industry’s “comeback” from a macro perspective, using Effort as a key case study to explain the deeper logic behind China’s transition from the world’s largest robot consumer to a net exporter. This involves a self-controlled industrial chain and the comprehensive capability of “equipment + solutions + services.” The report clearly indicates that the international ventures of companies like Effort signify that Chinese manufacturing is transforming from a “follower” to an indispensable “supplier” in the global industrial chain.
• CCTV Finance‘s Economic Half Hour program delves into Effort’s workshop, documenting the groundbreaking achievement of domestically produced spray painting robots and their successful entry into overseas markets. The program focuses on how Effort overcame the technical barriers in the high-end manufacturing sector of automotive painting, showcasing the rollout of its first fully domestic robotic automotive exterior spray production line in international markets. This illustrates the progress of Chinese robots from being “usable” to “highly effective,” ultimately earning trust in high-end markets.
• Global News Broadcast reveals through the experience of Valeria, an Italian employee at Effort, the profound shift in the perception of Chinese robots in overseas markets, particularly within the high-end European sector, from “skepticism” to “trust.” Effort has gained long-term recognition from international clients through solid technology, quick response times, and localized services, validating the market belief that “partnering with China means collaborating with the future.”

Effort’s Path: From “Learning from Abroad” to “Teaching Abroad”

The attention from major central media highlights a clear development logic for Effort: achieving global output of independent technology and solutions through the digestion, absorption, and re-innovation of advanced overseas technologies. Effort’s growth began with a demand for core technology. From 2013 to 2023, Effort spent a decade strategically acquiring overseas companies to absorb international advanced experiences in robot design, processes, and applications. However, Effort did not stop at mere acquisition; it integrated overseas technology with China’s market scale and diverse scenarios, achieving comprehensive localization from core components to complete machine technology. This dual-driven approach of “independent research and development + overseas acquisitions” has laid the foundation for its technological independence.

After accumulating technology and validating it in the domestic market, Effort’s international journey entered a new phase. This phase is no longer just about simple product exports but involves a comprehensive capability output of “products + solutions + services + standards.” Abroad, Effort not only sells robots but also trains engineers for partners, providing stable long-term technical support to complete a solid “trust installation.”

From offering cost-effective automation solutions to emerging markets to providing complex spray production line solutions for high-end European automotive brands, Effort has transformed its role from a “learner” to a “peer,” and ultimately to an “enabler.” Currently, Effort is focusing strategically on intelligence, launching a general technical base for intelligent robots aimed at building an open ecosystem. This indicates that Effort’s international expansion model will elevate again, moving from outputting products and solutions to delivering platform-based intelligent capabilities, collaboratively defining the future of manufacturing with global partners.