Something very big is going on here: Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo

In 2016, robot sales increased by 16 percent to 294,312 units, a new peak for the fourth year in a row. Of the nearly 300 thousand  robots sold in the world, 50 percent of them went to three East Asian countries: China, Korea and Japan. China alone accounted for 25 percent of the total.

50 percent of those robots were manufactured by Japanese companies as was 90 percent of the world supply of robot parts.

By 2018, sales of robots will number over 400,000, with China, Korea and Japan accounting for 70 percent. Some 80 percent by 2025, about $53 billion.

According to the Boston Consulting Group:“Spending on robots worldwide is expected to more than quadruple from just over $15 billion four years ago to about $67 billion by 2025—a 10.4 percent compound annual growth rate since 2010.”

Most of those robots will have been designed, built, sold and deployed in the triangle of robot trade that stretches from Seoul to Tokyo to Shanghai.