As the saying goes, “The sharpening of the sword makes it easier to chop wood.” If you want to do a good job, you will definitely not be able to do it if you don’t have a few handy things.
As a machine for manufacturing machines, machine tools play an important role. The cars, mobile phone lenses, and even artificial hip joints in hospitals all rely on it.
Just in 2025, this “hard nut” was finally cracked by us. China’s machine tool exports suddenly surpassed Germany and won the world’s No. 1 throne.
This is no nonsense, the official data of the German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association is there: China’s export share accounts for 21.6%, and Germany’s report card is only 16.7%.
After a rise and a fall, Germany fell by 10%, but we rose by 18%. The situation changed, and the former leader had to give up the crown.
Looking back to 2010, China’s machinery industry has just reached the top spot in the world, and its exports of machinery and equipment have just reached the top in 2020. Now, in the field of machine tools that the Germans have long dominated, they have achieved overtaking in a corner. What does it rely on?
It is a real family background.
The data in 2023 is eye-catching. China’s machine tool output value accounts for 32.1% of the world, and its consumption also accounts for 32.5%. It is “one-third of the world”.
We not only use it ourselves, but also sell it better and better. Industry revenue is expected to reach 1.05 trillion yuan in 2025 from 763.1 billion yuan in 2020, and the average annual growth rate of exports is more than 10%.
In the past, we had to buy other people’s equipment, but now it’s better. As early as June 2019, the import and export of machine tools achieved a surplus. By June 2023, even the metal cutting machine tool segment will have a surplus, and the entire industry is proud and proud.
Just selling a lot is not a skill, things have to be tough.
The CNC horizontal side broaching machine developed by Zhejiang Changer has filled the gap in tongue and groove processing of aerospace engines; the dual five-axis mirror milling machine tool developed by Shanghai Tuopu has solved the problem of thin-wall processing of large aircraft and broken the foreign blockade.
We now have three-dimensional five-axis laser cutting machine tools, 80,000-ton die forging hydraulic presses, and even super-heavy machine tools with a processing accuracy of 0.008 mm.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has stamped its seal and affirmed that the overall level of China’s industrial machineries has firmly ranked among the second tier in the world.
This momentum is most vividly reflected in eastern Zhejiang.
In December 2024, the Eastern Zhejiang Industrial Machinery Cluster will be promoted to the national team.
The four places of Taizhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Jiaxing work together to keep warm. In 2023, their output value reached nearly 280 billion yuan, accounting for almost one-fifth of the country.
One of every three metal cutting machine tools and every five metal forming machine tools in the country is produced here.
There are hidden dragons and crouching tigers in this place, with 35 listed companies, 13 individual champions, and 118 “little giants” gathering together. Even foreign giants such as DMG Mori Seiki have settled in.
The vice governor of Zhejiang Province personally acted as the “chain leader”, and the four cities signed an agreement and allocated tens of billions of industrial funds to specifically overcome the “stuck” technology. This posture is aimed at world-class clusters.
The best is yet to come. The “15th Five-Year Plan” recommendations have listed industrial motherboards as a key area.
The next five years are a critical period. Our goal is very clear, which is to advance into the first echelon in the world.
The industry trends have changed. It is demand-oriented, digital and intelligent integration, and technology adaptability is getting stronger and stronger.
By seizing this opportunity, the foundation of China’s manufacturing industry will be rooted deeper, and the big machine of the modern industrial system will surely spin more steadily and vigorously.
