In the current context of profound adjustments in the global economic landscape and increasingly fierce technological competition, high-end equipment manufacturing, as a key manifestation of a country's core competitiveness in the manufacturing industry, has become an important engine for promoting high-quality economic development. In 2024, the high-end equipment manufacturing industry in China continued to demonstrate strong development resilience and innovation vitality in a complex and volatile domestic and international environment. Some sub-industries even achieved remarkable breakthroughs, effectively promoting the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure.
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High-end equipment manufacturing refers to the industrial field that uses advanced technologies and processes to produce equipment products with characteristics such as high added value, high technological content, high reliability, and high precision. It covers multiple industries and technological directions, represents the core competitiveness of a country's manufacturing industry, and is of great significance for promoting economic development and industrial upgrading. It includes aerospace equipment, offshore engineering equipment, high-grade CNC machine tools, industrial robots, rail transit equipment, etc.
According to the "Report on the Development of High-end Manufacturing of Chinese Listed Companies (2024)", as of the end of 2023, there were a total of 2,445 high-end manufacturing listed companies in China's A-share market, accounting for 45.74% of the total number of A-share listed companies. In terms of asset scale, at the end of 2023, the total asset scale of high-end manufacturing listed companies reached 25.69 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.10% of the total assets of A-share listed companies. Compared with the end of 2022, it increased by 12.03% year-on-year, and the compound growth rate in the past five years was 17.33%, far exceeding the overall compound growth rate of A-shares. In terms of revenue scale, it increased from 8.24 trillion yuan in 2019 to 14.66 trillion yuan in 2023, with a compound growth rate of 15.50%. Even in the context of a complex international situation and declining demand in 2023, the year-on-year growth rate of operating income was still 8.86%, significantly leading the overall growth rate of A-shares. R & D investment has also been rising continuously, reaching 888.218 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound growth rate of 22.11% in the past five years. The proportion of R & D expenditure in revenue increased from 4.85% in 2019 to 6.06% in 2023. These data indicate that China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry is in a stage of rapid development and is playing an increasingly important role in economic growth, technological innovation, etc.
China has the following advantages in the development of high-end manufacturing:
The government attaches great importance to the high-end equipment manufacturing industry, regards it as a strategic emerging industry for key cultivation, and has introduced a series of all-round and multi-level policy measures. From the landmark plan of "Made in China 2025" to special support policies in various sub-fields, it covers many aspects such as tax incentives, R & D subsidies, and support from industrial funds. These policies not only reduce the burden on enterprises, stimulate innovation enthusiasm, but also guide social capital to converge in the high-end equipment manufacturing field, creating a favorable policy environment and financial support for the development of the industry, and effectively promoting the rapid development and technological upgrading of the industry.
After years of development, China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry has constructed a relatively complete industrial system, covering multiple fields such as aerospace, offshore engineering, rail transit, and intelligent manufacturing. This complete industrial system enables close collaborative cooperation among upstream and downstream enterprises, forming an efficient industrial chain synergy effect.
China has a huge domestic market. With the continuous development of the economy and the continuous advancement of infrastructure construction, the demand for high-end equipment is increasing. In the aerospace field, the rapid expansion of the domestic civil aviation industry has led to a continuous increase in the demand for new airliners, regional aircraft, and other aerospace equipment. In terms of rail transit, the large-scale construction of urban rail transit and the continuous improvement of the high-speed rail network have provided broad market space for high-speed EMUs, urban rail transit vehicles, etc. The huge market demand has become a powerful driving force for the development of the industry, prompting enterprises to continuously increase R & D investment, improve product quality and performance to meet market demand. At the same time, it is also conducive to enterprises achieving economies of scale and reducing production costs.
In recent years, China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry has made great progress in technological innovation. R & D investment has continued to increase, the team of innovative talents has been continuously expanded, and the cooperation among industry, academia, and research has become increasingly close.
However, the development of high-end equipment manufacturing also faces some challenges. In terms of technological innovation, some key core technologies are still controlled by others. For example, the manufacturing technologies of some key components of high-end aero-engines and the autonomous driving chips of new energy vehicles are difficult to tackle, and require a large amount of capital and time investment. Market competition is also becoming increasingly fierce. International giants have a first-mover advantage in the high-end equipment manufacturing field, and domestic enterprises face great pressure when expanding into the international market.
