The recent high-quality development conference for the robotics and embodied intelligence industry in Anhui province, held in Wuhu, has once again drawn industry attention to this fertile ground for robotics. As the nation's first national-level pilot zone for the agglomeration and development of the robotics industry, Wuhu's Jiujiang District has positioned robotics as its primary industry, adhering steadfastly to its strategic blueprint. It has evolved from a traditional manufacturing base for industrial robotic arms into a frontier for general embodied intelligence. By the end of 2025, the district is projected to host over 200 enterprises across the entire robotics industry chain, establishing a complete ecosystem from core components to complete machine manufacturing and systems integration.
The starting point for Jiujiang District's robotics industry can be traced back to 2013 when Wuhu was designated as a national robotics industry agglomeration zone, according to Zhang Kai, head of the robotics investment team at the Jiujiang District Industry and Information Technology Bureau. At that time, the industry primarily focused on traditional industrial robotic arms, with core components heavily reliant on external suppliers. After more than a decade of dedicated development, Jiujiang has forged a path of "using complete machines to drive supporting industries and using supporting industries to promote complete machines," fostering a chain-linked development model.
To understand the resilience of Jiujiang's robotics sector, Wuhu Qingneng Dechuang serves as an essential case study. The year 2018 marked a pivotal moment for the company. Previously, this enterprise focused on servo drive R&D relied mainly on contract manufacturers in Langfang, Hebei province for production. "As secondary R&D deepened and the need for a dedicated manufacturing base became urgent, finding a new 'home base' was put on the agenda," recalled Ye Qishou, Deputy General Manager of Wuhu Qingneng Dechuang Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.. The team evaluated numerous locations before ultimately choosing Wuhu.
This was not a blind choice. Even before establishing operations, Qingneng Dechuang had forged a close partnership with Efort. This "market before move-in" industrial synergy provided the fundamental attraction. After settling in, the company's physical footprint underwent a three-stage leap: from leasing Phase I and II factory buildings to now owning a 28-acre facility. During this expansion, a story about the "government-funded freight elevator" became widely known locally. The leased Phase II building was ready in all aspects except for one—it lacked a freight elevator. "Materials couldn't go up, and finished products couldn't come down. For a manufacturing enterprise, this was like being strangled," Ye Qishou admitted. He approached the government tentatively, but to his surprise, the elevator was installed and operational within just over a month, with the company bearing no cost.
Ye Qishou described the local business environment as "reliable," and this elevator anecdote proved more persuasive than any promise in an investment brochure. Encouragingly, after taking root, Qingneng Dechuang's market clearly developed a "dual circulation" pattern. Domestically within Wuhu, local clients account for 30% of its business. The ultra-efficient model of "finding a supplier in 5 minutes, completing supporting work in half an hour" has fostered a tight symbiotic relationship with complete machine manufacturers like Efort and Moka. Externally, Qingneng Dechuang entered the humanoid robotics track early, providing sample testing for leading companies such as Beijing Humanoid, Shanghai Humanoid, Xiaomi, and JD.com. Last year, the company produced 60,000 servo drives for industrial robots, with output expected to reach 90,000 units this year.
If Qingneng Dechuang represents Jiujiang's deep cultivation in the "body" components of robots, then the emergence of Qizhi Robotics marks a critical leap for the industry towards the "brain" level. In May 2024, Qizhi (Wuhu) Intelligent Robot Co., Ltd., incubated by Efort, was formally established. Unlike Qingneng Dechuang's focus on servo drives—the "joints and nerves"—Qizhi set its sights on a more foundational technological architecture: the general-purpose technology base for intelligent robots.
Guo Leilei, Vice President of Qizhi (Wuhu) Intelligent Robot, stated that humanoid robots are a highly integrated carrier of artificial intelligence technology and a key future industry track. "We are attempting to break away from homogenized competition at the hardware level and instead start from the most fundamental operating system and development ecosystem to build foundational capabilities for the entire robotics industry," he explained.
The vitality of technology lies in its application. At the Silicon Guest Robot Future Community within the Mengxi Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, Qizhi's general-purpose technology base is undergoing rigorous testing in real-world scenarios. Behind seemingly everyday scenes—martial arts performances, percussion playing, supermarket barcode scanning, coffee latte art—lies serious data collection and model training experiments. "Relying on Qizhi's general-purpose technology base, robots are continuously strengthening model training through massive data collection, constantly unlocking new skills," Guo Leilei noted. The current core task is to overcome the challenge of achieving independent and controllable software ecosystems, pushing the technology to take root in practical applications.
Zhang Kai revealed that Qingneng Dechuang will supply servo drives to Qizhi, further clarifying the collaborative landscape of Jiujiang's robotics industry: Qingneng Dechuang provides the "joints and nerves," Qizhi builds the "brain and soul," and complete machine manufacturers like Efort and Moka handle the final integration of the "body." A complete, closed-loop robotics ecosystem—from core components to full machine application—has now clearly taken shape.
Comments