South China's Guangdong province, a global production base, produced 63,200 sets of industrial robots and another 1.94 million sets of service robots in the first quarter.

The figures represented a year-on-year increase of 31.1 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, indicating the province's industrial economy is recovering and improving, according to a statement released Thursday by the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province.

As of the end of the first quarter, the core industry scale of artificial intelligence in the province has exceeded 220 billion yuan ($30 billion), ranking first in the country, said Wu Hong, deputy director of the department, at a news conference on Thursday.

Guangdong has become one of the main gathering areas for the domestic robot industry, forming a robot industry pattern with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Dongguan as the core.

The province now has more than 1,500 core artificial intelligence enterprises, including 24 unicorn companies, 92 listed firms and 147 national specialized, refined and new “l(fā)ittle giant” companies, taking the lead nationally in terms of quantity.

From 2019 to 2024, the output of industrial robots in Guangdong increased from 44,700 to 246,800 sets, according to Wu.

The advanced manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing industries, which account for 55.3 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively of the province's industries above the designated size, saw year-on-year increases of added value of 5.9 percent and 5.3 percent respectively in the first quarter.

Wu added that both figures exceeded the overall growth rate of Guangdong's industries above the designated size, which showcased the continuous optimization of the province's industrial structure and quality.