China leverages high-tech manufacturing for global edge

Rapid technological iteration has been driven by the clustering effect of the industry. Nearly 90 percent of upstream suppliers for consumer-grade 3D printers are located in China's Pearl River Delta region, forming a highly efficient industrial ecosystem, said Cao Pengfei, deputy head of Shenzhen Customs' statistics unit.

The customs official said this clustering has helped create a "two-hour supply chain", significantly reducing logistical costs, shortening delivery times and enhancing the global competitiveness of Chinese-made 3D printer products.

"For the same product, it certainly can be manufactured in the United States, but from procurement to production and final delivery, the cost could run to $2,000 or $3,000," said Chen Bin, deputy director of the expert committee of the Beijing-based China Machinery Industry Federation.

He said that the same product can often be made for less than $1,000 in China. Combined with strong innovation, this cost advantage is making Chinese products increasingly attractive to global consumers.

In 2025, nationwide industrial enterprises above a designated size recorded total profits of 7.39 trillion yuan, up 0.6 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In the meantime, profits in the nation's intelligent consumer equipment manufacturing sector rose 48 percent on a yearly basis, said the NBS.

In East China's Jiangsu province, a growing number of businesses are also using independent innovation as a key driver to bring high-value-added products to global markets.

One such company is View Electronic Co Ltd, a liquid crystal display television manufacturer located in Nantong, Jiangsu. Its automated production lines turn out high-refresh-rate quantum dot televisions every 40 seconds, with the products destined for overseas markets.

The Chinese company has secured a top-three market position in Saudi Arabia and is steadily expanding its footprint across Central Asia and North Africa, as its strategy of "going global through brands and technology" gains momentum.

Wang Songbai, head of View Electronic's sales unit, said the company has made technological innovation its core approach to precisely meet customer needs.

"For the Middle East's strong lighting conditions at homes and public spaces, we independently developed an anti-glare screen coating, while customized artificial intelligence-powered night eye-care models were designed to align with local user habits," Wang said.

He noted that the company launched more than 10 mid — to high-end products last year, including its latest 98-inch quantum dot TV, which features wider color-gamut coverage and has proven particularly popular with sports fans.

The Chinese TV maker's annual exports rose to 420 million yuan in 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of over 15 percent, with high-end large-screen products measuring 80 inches and above accounting for more than 10 percent of its total export value, according to Nanjing Customs.

Denis Depoux, global managing director of management consultancy Roland Berger, said Chinese companies have built differentiated advantages with global competitiveness in areas such as "China speed", supply chain resilience, cost efficiency, engineering talent and continuously strengthened innovation capabilities.

New technologies such as electrification, automation and AI transformation will continue to reshape their product architecture and industrial ecosystems, opening up fresh growth opportunities, he said.