Chinese CiDi aims to sell autonomous mining machines overseas this year

CiDi plans to push its autonomous mining machines overseas this year, with Australia first in line and contract talks also aimed at the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas. Chief Executive Albert Hu said overseas deployments were expected to grow as the Hong Kong-listed Chinese equipment maker moves beyond its home market.

The company is not starting from zero. CiDi has already equipped partially automated autonomous excavators in Australia and is preparing a larger rollout there this year. At the same time, Hu said overseas markets are expected to contribute a double-digit share of revenue, a sign that the company wants international sales to become a meaningful part of the business rather than a side bet.

CiDi is pitching into a sector where the technical case is clear but the political and operational questions are harder. Mining operators are drawn to autonomy for productivity, safety and the chance to keep machines running in dangerous settings with fewer workers on site. But foreign buyers also have to weigh data and telemetry handling, service support in remote regions, local regulatory approvals and the broader question of whether they want to rely on a Chinese supplier for equipment that can shape production every hour of the day.

The company’s main competition is well established. Caterpillar, Sandvik and Epiroc already have deep relationships with mine operators, while Komatsu remains a major benchmark in autonomous haulage. Those firms bring global service networks and long operating histories, advantages that matter when a mine can lose millions if a truck fleet goes down. CiDi’s advantage is a narrower one: a focus on autonomous mining hardware and a live system it can show customers now.

That live system is in Jurong, Jiangsu province, where 12 fully electric unmanned trucks were operating at an open-pit quarry owned by TCC Group Holdings. CiDi also uses a remote-control cockpit when the trucks need to be operated manually, giving the company a fallback that may help with safety reviews and buyer confidence.

Australia looks like the most likely early winner because CiDi already has a foothold there, and the country’s big iron ore mines are familiar territory for autonomous haulage. Brazil and Chile are also natural targets because large mining operators there already run autonomous fleets, and CiDi is seeking business across the Americas as well. Whether the company lands contracts abroad will depend on whether foreign miners judge its technology to be cheaper, safer and easier to support than the systems already entrenched on site.