The Last Blue Ocean for Mobile Robots? The Boom of Unmanned Forklifts! A 161% Revenue Growth!

Despite a slowdown in the mobile robot sector due to weak downstream markets in 2024, unmanned forklifts have bucked the trend, showing remarkable performance. Industry dynamics in the first half of the year indicate that unmanned forklifts are becoming the focal point of both the market and capital.

In the field of financing

although mobile robots were not a hot pursuit for capital in the first half of 2024, unmanned forklifts still attracted significant capital inflows. Data shows that unmanned forklift companies accounted for half of the total financing events in the first half of the year, with the amount of funding comprising 49.02% of the total.

In terms of product launches

unmanned forklifts also performed strongly. In the first half of the year, 20 new unmanned forklift models were released, accounting for 42.6% of the total number of new mobile robot products worldwide. These new products are focused on “lightweight, narrow aisle, and heavy load” technology directions, reflecting the confidence and active investment of companies in the unmanned forklift market. As of the first half of 2024, more than 180 companies in China have launched unmanned forklift products, leading to increasingly fierce market competition.

Moreover, traditional forklift giants have quickly realized the immense market potential of unmanned forklifts and are leveraging their advantages in technology, supply chains, and distribution channels to actively enter this emerging sector. In the increasingly saturated industrial vehicle market, these giants are seeking to create new growth curves through unmanned forklifts.

The financial performance of industry giants Hangcha Group and Anhui Heli is particularly noteworthy. As a veteran forklift giant, Hangcha Group entered the unmanned forklift sector as early as 2012, established an intelligent logistics division in 2015, and founded the subsidiary Hangcha Intelligent in 2018, focusing on the unmanned forklift market. In the first half of 2024, Hangcha Group achieved revenue of 8.554 billion yuan, up 3.74% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders growing by 29.29% to 1.007 billion yuan. Notably, Hangcha Group’s intelligent logistics segment saw revenue grow by 88.07% year-on-year in January-April, with total orders increasing by more than 100% year-on-year, and sales of mobile robots surpassing the total for last year.

Anhui Heli also performed impressively. In the first half of 2024, the company achieved revenue of 9.009 billion yuan, up 3.32% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders growing by 22% to 803 million yuan. The intelligent logistics business has become Anhui Heli’s growth engine, with revenue surging by 161.20% year-on-year in the first half of the year. In April, Anhui Heli acquired Yufeng Intelligent for 271 million yuan, and in May, it opened the Heli Intelligent Logistics Industrial Park, demonstrating its ambitious expansion in the intelligent logistics field.

Conclusion

Overall, in the first half of 2024, the unmanned forklift sector showed strong growth momentum in financing, product launches, and company performance. However, as more and more companies enter the fray, market competition is becoming increasingly intense, and the unmanned forklift market is expected to face even fiercer competition in the future.