As a core component in transmission systems, reducers play a pivotal role in reducing rotational speed and increasing torque. Their technical performance directly determines the operational accuracy and stability of downstream equipment. In the humanoid robotics sector, precision reducers are among the key components, accounting for approximately 16% of the cost structure. The transmission accuracy and reliability of these reducers directly impact the flexibility of humanoid robot movements and their adaptability to various scenarios.
Market demand analysis indicates accelerated global industrialization of humanoid robots, with a projected 10-billion-yuan incremental market by 2030. As domestic policies increasingly support the robotics industry, the imminent mass production of humanoid robots is creating a window of explosive growth for precision reducers.
From a technical perspective, the precision reducer market has long been dominated by foreign enterprises: Harmonic reducers are led by Harmonic Drive with a global market share exceeding 80%; in the RV reducer sector, Japan’s Nabtesco holds over 40% of the market share in China; the precision planetary reducer market is also primarily dominated by Japanese and German manufacturers. This landscape not only highlights the urgency of domestic substitution but also sets a benchmark for domestic manufacturers to achieve technological breakthroughs.
From the perspective of domestic substitution, domestic manufacturers have achieved key breakthroughs in technology and market by 2025: the domestic harmonic reducer market size reached 2.49 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.54% from
2019 to 2023; the RV reducer market size in China is expected to reach 6 billion yuan by 2025, with domestic manufacturers such as Huan Dong Technology continuously approaching international advanced levels in technical capabilities; the global market size of precision planetary reducers grew from 929 million yuan to 1.376 billion yuan from 2020 to 2024, with a CAGR of 10.32%. Domestic high-end products have reached international advanced levels in key indicators such as transmission accuracy, efficiency, and noise, achieving import substitution in some fields, and the localization rate is gradually increasing.
At this pivotal juncture for the industry, the growing demand for humanoid robots and breakthroughs in domestic reducer technology have created a synergistic effect, propelling the domestic substitution process into a critical phase of implementation and harvest. Against this backdrop, this report provides an in-depth analysis of the growth drivers, technological pathways, and domestic substitution progress in the reducer sector, offering essential insights for industrial research and investment decisions.
