Breaking the Circle to Grow! Xiamen Large Automation Anchors in Jimei’s Innovation Hub, Decoding the Rise of Industrial Robot Clusters

Breaking the Circle to Grow! Xiamen Large Automation Anchors in Jimei’s Innovation Hub, Decoding the Rise of Industrial Robot Clusters

As the winter sun shines over Jimei, Xiamen, at the construction site on the west side of the Hualing Road intersection, construction machinery is operating in an orderly fashion. Soon, a 30,000 square meter intelligent innovation and technology industrial park will rise here, marking the leap of Xiamen Large Automation from a “hidden champion” to an “ecosystem engine.” Rooted in Jimei for 17 years, Xiamen Large Automation has recently celebrated several milestones: the industrial robot cluster where it is located has passed the national re-certification, and it is now part of Xiamen's unique “dual” specialty industrial clusters; the 10,000 square meters of industrial land it secured at the beginning of the year is accelerating its expansion. This "Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative" small giant is now writing a new chapter in the industrial robot sector through technological innovation.

Entering the production workshop of Xiamen Large Automation, a vehicle-mounted central control screen full lamination production line is running smoothly. "It looks like a complex machine, but the core is 'building blocks,'" says Vice General Manager Yi Min as he points to the equipment. The core modules for motion control, intelligent vision, and other systems can be flexibly combined to quickly respond to customized customer needs. This “modular” innovation is the key competitive advantage of Xiamen Large Automation, which has been dedicated to the industry for 17 years.

Founded in 2008 with an initial investment of just 100,000 RMB from three founders, Xiamen Large Automation entered the market at a time when domestic touch screen lamination equipment was entirely reliant on imports, with low precision and efficiency. The team focused on overcoming technical difficulties in the laboratory, progressing from single-point technology breakthroughs to the creation of a modular library. Eventually, they developed water-based adhesive full lamination equipment, breaking foreign monopolies with ±0.01mm alignment accuracy and micron-level operational stability.

Now, the company's vehicle-mounted touch screen lamination production line holds over 70% of the domestic market share. Its display edge coating equipment is the top-seller in China, and its TV glue spraying and assembly production lines rank in the top three in the industry. Consistent investment in R&D has been the foundation for this innovation. The company dedicates 10% of its annual revenue to R&D, and its 80-person technical team includes pioneers who developed China’s first dispensing machine. To date, the company has been granted 20 invention patents, 124 utility model patents, 3 design patents, and 41 software copyrights, all of which have been successfully industrialized.

Collaborations with Xiamen University and Xiamen University of Technology further enhance its technical innovation, enabling breakthroughs in key technologies like high-viscosity fluid micro-dosing. The company's OCR full lamination solution has achieved domestic substitution and won the second prize in the 2023 Xiamen Municipal Science and Technology Progress Award. At the beginning of the year, Xiamen Large Automation, with its “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” qualifications, successfully acquired 10,000 square meters of industrial land in northern Jimei. With an investment of no less than 120 million RMB, the blueprint for an intelligent innovation industrial park has already been drawn. It will be divided into four main functional areas: R&D technology, production manufacturing, digital transformation, and warehousing logistics. Once completed, the park will undergo a qualitative transformation from “capacity expansion” to “ecosystem construction.”

“This is not just about expanding space; it’s about creating an industrial ecosystem based on ‘technology output — demand feedback — iterative upgrades,’” explains Chairman Chen Yongqing, unveiling the deeper logic behind the expansion. The new park will not only host the company's R&D and production but also plan to integrate the supply chain by collaborating with upstream chip and sensor suppliers and downstream display leaders such as Tianma and BOE. This approach aligns closely with Jimei District’s industrial strategy of "strengthening and supplementing the supply chain." As the birthplace of modern industry in Xiamen, Jimei’s industrial robot cluster has already attracted