North American companies ordered 8,940 industrial robots valued at $622 million in the second quarter of 2026, according to fresh data released Monday by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). Compared to Q2 2025, that is a 4.3% increase in units and a 21.3% jump in revenue, and it brings first-half totals to 17,995 units worth $1.166 billion, up 2.0% in units and 6.6% in order value year over year.
Non-Automotive Buyers Now Account For Most Orders
Non-automotive customers made up 56% of Q2 units ordered, extending a multi-quarter shift as robotics buying spreads across the industrial base. Semiconductors & Electronics/Photonics grew 38% year-over-year in the quarter, Automotive Component 20%, Food & Consumer Goods and Metals 18% each, and Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed 9%. Automotive OEM orders fell 25% year to date, but growth in the other verticals more than offset that decline.
Cobots Anchor 15% Of First-Half Units
Collaborative robots continued to punch above their weight, with 2,774 cobot units worth $114 million ordered in the first half — 15.4% of all robot units and 9.8% of order revenue. Cobot adoption remains particularly strong in Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed (43.7% of H1 orders) and Semi & Electronics/Photonics (36.5%). "The first half of 2026 shows how the mix of the robotics market continues to evolve," said A3 Executive Vice President Alex Shikany. "Automotive remains an important driver of demand, while we're also seeing growth across a wider range of industries."
Macro Backdrop Still Supports Automation Capex
Manufacturing PMI stayed in expansion for a sixth consecutive month in June, and Federal Reserve data showed manufacturing output 1.1% above year-earlier levels. That backdrop is helping sustain investment even as Automotive OEM projects wobble. A3 flagged the Q2 print as evidence that manufacturers still treat automation as a long-term competitiveness bet, mirroring broader signals such as Tacta Systems' $75M TactaBot launch for dexterous electronics assembly and Walden Robotics' $300M stealth exit into Toyota factories.
Reporting based on coverage from Business Wire and The Robot Report.