North American robot buyers did not wait for Automotive OEMs to feel better. In Q2 2026 they ordered 8,940 robots worth $622 million—up 4.3% in units and 21.3% in revenue versus Q2 2025—according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). First-half totals reached 17,995 units and $1.166 billion, up 2.0% and 6.6% respectively.

The headline growth masks a sharper story: the customer mix is shifting. Non-automotive customers took 56% of robot units in the quarter. Automotive OEM orders for the first half fell 25% year over year, while components and several general industries filled the gap.

A3’s Q2 data shows robot demand spreading beyond vehicle assembly into electronics, packaging, metals, and life sciences cells.

Where the orders actually came from

First-half unit growth outside soft OEM vehicle programs was broad, if uneven:

• Semi & Electronics/Photonics: +35%
• Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed: +32%
• Automotive Component: +24%
• Food & Consumer Goods: +17%
• Plastics & Rubber: +6%
• All Other Industries: +6%
• Metals: +3%

In Q2 alone, Semi & Electronics/Photonics jumped 38% year over year. Automotive Component rose 20%. Food & Consumer Goods and Metals each climbed 18%, while Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed added 9%.

Food and consumer goods—up 18% in Q2 robot orders—are among the sectors offsetting Automotive OEM softness.

Collaborative robots stay material

Companies ordered 2,774 collaborative robots worth $114 million in the first half—15.4% of all robot units and 9.8% of order revenue. Q2 alone saw 1,137 cobots valued at $44 million (12.7% of units, 7.1% of revenue). Adoption was especially concentrated in Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed and Semi & Electronics/Photonics, where cobots represented 43.7% and 36.5% of first-half robot orders in those segments.

Alex Shikany, A3 executive vice president, framed the half as an evolving mix: automotive still matters, but breadth outside Automotive OEM is the trend to watch—even when sector results are not uniform.

Macro backdrop still supports CapEx

A3 noted Manufacturing PMI stayed in expansion for a sixth consecutive month in June, with new orders and production growing, while Federal Reserve data put manufacturing output 1.1% above its year-earlier level in June. Timing of large Automotive OEM programs will still swing quarters, but first-half bookings suggest manufacturers treat automation as a competitiveness CapEx, not a one-cycle gamble.

For plant teams tying robot cells into existing control racks—whether drives and motion from ABB automation portfolios or sequencing on PLC and PAC platforms—the practical implication is clearer bid pipelines outside traditional body shops: electronics, packaging, and life-sciences environments that still need hard integration, safety, and spare-parts discipline.

Packaging and general industry cells help explain why non-automotive customers accounted for 56% of Q2 robot units.

Opinion

Unit growth of 4.3% looks modest next to a 21.3% revenue jump—buyers are ordering richer systems, not just more arms. Automotive OEM weakness remains a real overhang for integrators who live on mega-programs. Diversification into semi, food, and life sciences is the healthier long-term pattern, provided those sectors keep converting RFQs into installed cells instead of pilot theater.