China’s most populous province has set ambitious targets for advanced manufacturing by 2028, including the production of more than 80,000 humanoid robots a year, to strengthen its position as a global industrial powerhouse despite concerns about domestic demand and export barriers.

Guangdong, which boasts a population of 129 million people and one of the oldest factory bases in the country, aims to build over 1,000 top-performing smart factories in the next two years as well as 1,000 green factories, the People’s Daily website reported on Tuesday, citing information given by officials at an advanced manufacturing conference on Friday.

Green factories would be assessed for energy efficiency, resource use and environmental performance, conference participants said.

Guangdong officials also said they want the AI adoption rate among manufacturers with annual main business revenue of 20 million yuan (US$2.98 million) or higher to exceed 50 per cent within two years.

Shu Yang, product and presales technology director at industrial robot maker KUKA China, told the conference the company’s Shunde base had raised its core component localisation rate above 90 per cent, Nanfang Daily reported. “Models produced at German factories can now also be made in China, while some models made in China cannot necessarily be produced in Germany,” he was quoted as saying.

Major manufacturers in Guangdong, which has 10 industrial clusters each worth more than 1 trillion yuan, generated 19.34 trillion yuan in revenue last year, the highest among China’s provinces, People’s Daily reported, citing official provincial data.

At an “AI plus” manufacturing event hosted by Guangdong’s Department of Industry and Information Technology last month, the province disclosed that over 2,000 embodied-intelligence robots had entered industrial use this year for sorting, loading, handling, inspection and collaborative tasks.

Except for exports, which remain a rare bright spot, both fixed-asset investment and consumption remain sluggishPeng Peng, Guangdong Society of Reform , executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform, a think tank associated with the provincial government, said the 2028 targets reflected a strategic shift towards building “world-class and globally competitive” factory hubs and integrating artificial intelligence applications.

The province was doubling down on those goals to shore up an economic growth rate that trailed the national average, he said.

“Except for exports, which remain a rare bright spot, both fixed-asset investment and consumption remain sluggish,” Peng said. However, apart from the property sector, investment “looks decent, driven by strong growth in advanced manufacturing and hi-tech sectors”, he said.

AI offered a “promising” way to combine Guangdong’s manufacturing base with technological innovation, Peng added.

Guangdong’s rise to become a manufacturing hub began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the introduction of China’s “reform and opening-up” policy under former leader Deng Xiaoping.

David Wong, a lecturer at Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, said it was unclear whether domestic and overseas markets could absorb the additional factory output envisioned by 2028.

Heavy factory automation could displace workers, resulting in lower wages and fewer jobs that would impose further constraints on household spending, Wong said.

Exports from Guangdong’s factories face uncertainty as the United States and the European Union scrutinise Chinese hi-tech products and pursue trade negotiations, he added. China and the EU reached a trade deal this month that would impose strict quotas on Chinese hybrid car exports to Europe.