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Midea, Eyeing China's Huge Aging Population, Targets Robotics With Yaskawa

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China home appliance maker Midea Group, whose largest individual shareholder is billionaire He Xianjian, said on Wednesday it had formed joint ventures with Yaskawa Electric of Japan, one of the world’s top suppliers of robots.

The two companies will invest a total of 400 million yuan, or $65 million, in two JVs. One, in which Midea will own 49% stake, will focus on industrial robots, and the other, in which Midea will own 60%, will focus on service robots.

Midea hopes its expansion into the robot industry will help upgrade its own manufacturing and industrial automation. It also hopes that Yaskawa’s technologies and products in service robots it find new business as China addresses with the economic impact of a huge aging population in the coming years.

He Xiangjian ranked No. 125 on the 2015 Forbes Billionaires List with wealth of $9.9 billion

--with Maggie Chen