China investing in machinery and automation means they are moving up the production chain into more expensive and more profitable manufacturing. It also means

China investing in machinery and automation means they are moving up the production chain into more expensive and more profitable manufacturing. It also means they no longer do the cheap high volume manufacturing, which will go elsewhere where the cheap labor is. This is how it goes. Manufacturing keeps migrating to cheap labor. China is running out of cheap labor and volume manufacturing will find it in East Asia and India and Africa instead, because these places will still have lots and lots of young people while those in China have aged out.