North American companies ordered 10,989 robots in the third quarter, up 24.8% year on year, as demand rose across manufacturing sectors. The figures point to a robotics market broadening beyond its traditional automotive stronghold, with collaborative robots also gaining ground.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) figures, reported by The AI Insider, put the value of third-quarter robot orders at $723.5 million, up 26.1% on the same period last year. It was the strongest quarter of 2026 so far. Over the first nine months, companies ordered 28,984 robots, a 9.6% increase in units compared with 2025.
Automotive component suppliers led the third-quarter surge, with orders up 90.4%. Orders in semiconductors, electronics and photonics rose 97.6%; plastics and rubber rose 67.7%; life sciences rose 38.7%; and metals rose 37%. Food and consumer goods was the main category to fall, down 23.7%. A3 links semiconductor and electronics growth partly to investment in US chip manufacturing and demand for electronics used in AI and other applications.
Collaborative robot orders climbed about 56% to 1,831 units, worth $63.8 million. They made up 16.7% of all robots ordered in the quarter. Through September, cobots accounted for 43.8% of robot orders in life sciences and 36.9% in semiconductors, electronics and photonics.
Why it matters
The headline is not simply that factories are buying more robots. The spread across sectors suggests automation demand is reaching a wider slice of manufacturing, while the strong cobot figures show smaller, collaborative machines are a meaningful part of that shift. The AI connection is concrete but narrower: A3 points to AI-related electronics demand as one factor behind semiconductor and electronics investment, not as the explanation for every robot order.
These are orders, not proof that every system has been installed or is delivering gains. Still, they offer a useful snapshot of where manufacturers are committing money, and where the next wave of automation may land.
Our read
This is a solid sign of broadening robotics demand, with the caveat that one strong quarter is not a straight-line forecast. The mix matters: component suppliers surged, automotive manufacturers returned to growth, and cobots made up a notable share of orders. For anyone tracking industrial automation, the sector breakdown is more revealing than the headline total alone.
What to watch
- Whether demand remains broad across manufacturing in the fourth quarter.
- Whether automotive manufacturers sustain their return to growth.
- Whether cobot orders keep rising, especially in life sciences and electronics.
Discussion spark: If robot orders keep rising across more industries, should manufacturers prioritise collaborative robots that can work alongside people, or larger-scale automation built for maximum output?
Sources and evidence
- A3 Reports North American Robot Orders Jump 25% in Third Quarter (28 October 2026, 12:32 UTC)
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