In the first half of 2026, domestic laparoscopic surgical robots accounted for 63% of winning bids, surpassing imports for the first time

Surgical robots, a concept that once existed only in science fiction films, are now quietly entering the operating rooms of the world's top hospitals. It is no longer an elephant, not merely a piece of precision machinery, but a profound transformation concerning "who wields the scalpel and how it is wielded." When it comes to surgical robots, one cannot avoid da Vinci—Intuitive Surgical spent 26 years proving out the most classic business model in this field, "razor + blade": selling a machine is only the beginning; the continuous stream of consumables and services is the real source of profit. In 2025, Intuitive Surgical's full-year revenue exceeded US$10 billion for the first time, with recurring revenue rising to about 84%; more than 12,000 da Vinci systems are in use worldwide, with cumulative procedures surpassing 20.4 million. A more intuitive comparison: by the end of 2024, the global installed base of da Vinci surgical systems reached 5,807 units, commanding about 58.6% of the global market share, with nearly half of those systems concentrated in clinical use in the United States. In China, da Vinci is likewise dominant—327 units were installed domestically in 2025, up 22% from 268 in 2024, bringing the cumulative installed base to over 1,200 units. This "mechanical arm" has become virtually synonymous with high-end surgical robots. But the core contradiction of the story is being rewritten. In 2026, the "inflection point theory" for domestic surgical robots was turned into reality by one set of installation data after another. The most intuitive signal comes from the tender market. According to MedRobot statistics, in the first half of 2026, public tenders for laparoscopic surgical robots at public hospitals nationwide totaled 27 units, of which domestic brands won 17 units combined, accounting for 63%, while imported brands accounted for only 37%—the first time domestic brands' tender wins surpassed imports. Years ago, that ratio was almost inverted. Beyond installation volume, China's laparoscopic surgical robot market is also expanding rapidly: the installed base of multi-port laparoscopic robots grew from 134 units in 2019 to 502 units in 2024, a compound annual growth rate of about 30%; single-port robots, as an emerging category, had only about 9 units installed in 2024, offering enormous potential. Overall, the global surgical robot market was worth about US$18.074 billion in 2023, rising to about US$20.4 billion in 2024, and is expected to climb further in 2025. This hundred-billion-dollar blue ocean, calculated by multiple institutions as having "14 times growth potential," has become a shared arena of competition for local manufacturers and capital alike. Domestic substitution is not just a numbers game of market share, but a head-on breakthrough in key technologies. On October 5, 2026, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University successfully performed a heart transplant on a patient with end-stage heart failure by operating a surgical robot—the world's third robot-assisted minimally invasive heart transplant, filling China's technological gap in this cutting-edge field. In the same period, the domestic orthopedic track was equally lively: the HX robotic-arm orthopedic surgical robot independently developed by Shenzhen Yuanhua Intelligent completed its local debut with "knee replacement error smaller than a hair"; an intelligent fracture reduction robot was also installed at Aerospace Center Hospital, marking the penetration of precision minimally invasive surgery into more departments. From laparoscopy and orthopedics to urology and cardiovascular, domestic surgical robots are moving from "a single hit product" to "full-category coverage," and from "can build" to "can use, easy to use, dare to use." Yet amid the excitement there are sober voices. Domestic substitution will not happen overnight: as of the second quarter of 2025, da Vinci still ranked first in the industry with a 53.8% market share, and imported brands as a whole still accounted for about 70%. More critical is the gap in business models—annual procedures per installed unit is the most intuitive yardstick: da Vinci averages more than 400 procedures per unit per year, while the flagship series of leading domestic manufacturer Tinavi approached 200 in 2025. If a machine is used only a few dozen times a year, consumables and services can hardly form a second revenue curve. That is also why the battlefield for domestic manufacturers is no longer confined to China. According to industry observations, in recent years the leading domestic manufacturers have relied on overseas markets for more of their growth, and "going global" and "putting down roots" are becoming parallel propositions—whether they can go abroad determines the ceiling; whether they can remain autonomous and controllable after going abroad determines the moat. Today's surgical robots are already changing how both doctors and patients imagine "surgery": smaller incisions, more precise operations, faster recovery. But the truly far-reaching transformation has only just begun—as robots move from "assistive tools" to "decision participants," from single-port toward more minimally invasive natural orifices, and from top-tier urban hospitals down to county-level hospitals, the boundaries of surgery will be redefined again and again.