By
16 min ago 2 min read
After all the attention surrounding data centres’ electricity consumption, now robotics finds itself under energy scrutiny.
The global robotics industry will consume as much electricity as France generates from nuclear power within a decade, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie.
Embodied AI: How Robotics Are Accelerating Global Power Demand puts combined robotics power consumption at 363 TWh by 2035, with industrial robots accounting for 357 TWh in the upper range and humanoid robots adding a further 6 TWh annually.
The industrial robotic market’s growth by 2035 is drawing power and approaching data centre scale.
The 5 million robots in operation today consume 78 TWh a year, almost twice London’s electricity consumption. Wood Mackenzie expects the operational fleet to reach 16 million units by 2035, if it can maintain the current pace of expansion at 12% a year.
China accounts for over 70% of annual global industrial robot installations, and Chinese companies are responsible for nearly 90% of all humanoid units currently in deployment.
China State Grid illustrates that position directly: it is spending $1bn in 2026 to buy 8,500 AI-enabled autonomous robots for more than 600 specialised tasks, from routine grid maintenance to live-line work on ultra-high voltage power lines, the report states.
Robert Liew, Director, Integrated Energy Research, Wood Mackenzie, said, “Power constraints are becoming a real brake on robotic adoption, and that matters because labour markets in developed economies are running short of alternatives.”
Robotics and AI are set to drive the next wave of productivity and affordable electricity will dictate industrial competitiveness, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Read more:
Read more:
