China's robotics exports reached 6.29 billion yuan ($929 million) in the first half of 2026, reaching 141 countries and regions, while Chinese pharmaceutical companies signed outbound licensing deals worth $110 billion over the same period, Global Times reported on July 26. The two figures back what the report calls the country's 'next new three' export industries: artificial intelligence, robotics and innovative drugs, following electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar panels as China's prior wave of export growth.
Robots move into nuclear plants and airports
Within the robotics export total, sales of high-end surgical robots rose 3.3 times year-on-year, Global Times reported. Chinese startup DEEP Robotics said its four-legged inspection robot is now running at Switzerland's Leibstadt facility, the country's largest and highest-output nuclear power plant, where it carries out round-the-clock autonomous checks in tight spaces that fixed inspection equipment cannot reach, replacing staff in higher-risk areas.
Robotics firm DoBot said coffee-making arms from its Nova series are running in more than 20 types of venues worldwide, including airports, high-speed rail stations and shopping malls, and have produced hundreds of thousands of cups without a reported malfunction. Deployments named by the company include unattended Coca-Cola drink stations on the Mediterranean coast, mobile coffee kiosks in the United Arab Emirates that serve a drink in 45 seconds, and self-operated food trucks in Singapore shopping malls.
AI use climbs, pharma licensing deals pile up
Domestic large language models logged 36.11 trillion token calls in the week of July 13 to 19, up 30.93 percent from the prior month and marking an eighth straight week of growth, People's Daily figures cited by Global Times show. Separately, AI company iFLYTEK said its Chinese-teaching software, adopted by a Thai middle school in 2025, has students speaking Chinese an average of 12 times per class session, compared with twice in a regular class, according to Xie Fei, director of iFLYTEK's Global Chinese Learning Platform.
On the drug side, Chinese pharmaceutical companies accounted for eight of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical licensing deals in the first half of 2026, as outbound technology licensing transactions hit $110 billion, Global Times reported.
| Metric | First-half 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| Robotics exports | 6.29 billion yuan ($929 million), 141 countries/regions |
| Surgical robot exports | up 3.3x year-on-year |
| Pharma licensing deals | $110 billion; 8 of the world's top 10 deals |
| AI token calls (week of July 13-19) | 36.11 trillion, up 30.93% month-on-month |
| Services trade volume (Jan-May) | up 6% year-on-year |
Wider trade shift
From January to May, China's total services trade volume rose 6 percent year-on-year and the services trade deficit narrowed by about 20 percent, while exports of knowledge-intensive services rose 12.2 percent, People's Daily data cited by Global Times show.
Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times the shift marks a move from exporting manufacturing capacity to exporting high-end innovation, with competition now centered on original research and core technology rather than production volume and cost. He said the change helps Chinese firms move from assembly work into research, technical services and standard-setting, and argued it will push the global industrial system toward more diversified, balanced development over time.
