In 2025, Quanzhou’s GDP will reach 1.38 trillion yuan, second only to Suzhou and Wuxi among ordinary prefecture-level cities.
Supporting this volume is the solid chassis built by nine major 100-billion-level manufacturing clusters.
However, there are also hidden worries behind this family fortune: the manufacturing industry is “dominated by one company”, the industrial chain is relatively traditional, and most of them are in the middle and lower reaches of the value chain. “There are many stars but few moons” – small and medium-sized enterprises are like stars, but they lack strong enough leadership.
This is not a dilemma unique to Quanzhou, but the solution given by Quanzhou is quite typical: “walking on two legs”, while cultivating local leaders as “ballast stone” while introducing foreign giants as “upgrade engines”.
Local “ballast stone”: From manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, leaders continue to increase their efforts.
“Local leaders are the ‘roots’ of the industry and determine the resilience and foundation of the economy.” This reveals Quanzhou’s strategic logic of cultivating local enterprises.
Take Anta as an example. This sports brand started in Jinjiang. Its share of China’s sports shoes and apparel market has increased to 23% in 2025.
It does not stop at OEM or traditional manufacturing, but invests 2 billion yuan to accelerate the construction of a global smart industrial park, which will build a global sports science laboratory and a digital smart factory.
From the launch of the industry’s first large-scale clothing model “Lingxi” to the launch of the Suzhou International Integrated Operation Center, Anta is trying to open up the entire intelligent link from research and development to logistics.
Also in 2025, Hengan International in the household paper industry handed over a report card of household paper business revenue of 14.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%.
It chose to invest 1.3 billion yuan to build a digital workshop for the intelligent production of sanitary products. It is expected that the annual new output value will be approximately 3 billion yuan after it is put into production.
The launch of Baihong Poly Fiber’s differentiated chemical fiber project with an annual output of 330,000 tons supports Jinjiang’s footwear and apparel industry chain from the upstream material end to the high end of the value chain.
These local leaders have become Quanzhou’s “ballast stone” to resist the risk of industrial hollowing out, and are also the key to controlling the right to speak in the industrial chain.
External introduction of “new engine”: top 500 investment, accurately embedded in the industry map.
Endogenous “roots” alone are not enough, “wings” are also needed to increase the height of the jump.
The external plan given by Quanzhou is to hold special investment conferences for the world’s top 500 and China’s top 500 companies for four consecutive years. The goal is so clear that it is almost demanding: the investment directory must be seamlessly connected with the “955” modern industry blueprint.
From June 15th to 16th, 2026, the fourth Fortune 500 Investment Promotion Conference signed 100 projects, with a total investment exceeding 80 billion yuan.
Observing the landing coordinates of these projects, we can clearly see an investment logic that “takes the industrial chain map as the key link”.
Skechers has established its Fujian sales headquarters, brand headquarters and sports industrial park in Licheng and Luojiang respectively. This is not a simple transfer of production capacity, but aims to promote Quanzhou’s traditional shoes and clothing industry to move up the “design + headquarters + brand” value chain.
JD.com is taking root in a “family bucket” style: the first Jingdong Electric Appliances City flagship store in Jinjiang, Fortress’s intelligent digital annotation base and modern service sector (investment of 600 million yuan), and logistics projects in Licheng and Shishi – multiple sectors were launched simultaneously, aiming at Quanzhou’s radiating power as a regional hub.
This “one enterprise, one chain” model is particularly evident in the field of mechanical equipment.
The CCCC Tianhe shield machine project that was launched last year has signed a cooperation agreement with five upstream and downstream supporting companies this year to jointly tackle high-end core components.
Projects are no longer isolated points, but “gears” embedded in industrial clusters.
Looking at the results from the perspective of “the moon and stars shine together”: the qualitative changes in the industry revealed by data.
After four years of planning, the results began to show up in the form of data.
As of the fourth session, Quanzhou has attracted nearly 200 Fortune 500 companies. 153 of the 224 projects signed in the first three sessions have been implemented, with a conversion rate as high as 68%. Among them, 13 companies will have tax payments exceeding 10 million yuan in 2025.
The injection of these foreign giants is catalyzing deep changes in Quanzhou’s industrial structure.
In 2025, the output value of Quanzhou’s strategic emerging industries will account for more than 16% of the designated industries.
The “AI design + flexible manufacturing” model has shortened the order delivery cycle of the textile, footwear and apparel industry by 40%, and the “5G + Industrial Internet” platform in the building materials and home furnishing field has reduced unit energy consumption by 28%.
As a microscopic reflection of industrial upgrading, Quanzhou’s R&D investment intensity exceeds 2.3%, and the number of high-tech enterprises exceeds 3,000.
“Local leaders are the ‘root’ of the industry, which determines the resilience and foundation of the economy; the top 500 companies are the ‘wings’ of the industry, which determine the height and speed of the jump.” The essence of the Quanzhou model is pointed out.
While many cities are eager to “change lanes and overtake”, Quanzhou chooses to carry out “power upgrades” on the original track, and its effectiveness still needs to be tested by time.
