On today’s global manufacturing stage, China’s machinery manufacturing is rising in an eye-catching manner, moving from a “world factory” to a “manufacturing power” and reshaping the global manufacturing landscape.
Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s victory in the 2026 WSBK World Superbike Championship can be called a highlight moment for Chinese machinery manufacturing.
It defeated century-old giants such as Ducati and Yamaha with its self-developed engine and won the championship historically.
This is not only the rise of a brand, but also a concentrated explosion of manufacturing capabilities in China’s machinery manufacturing system.
Zhang Xue Motorcycle was able to launch a new brand with very little capital in just 2 years, thanks to China’s complete motorcycle production chain.
Its independently developed 819cc inline three-cylinder engine uses high-end processes such as magnesium alloy pistons and titanium alloy connecting rods. It has a dry weight of only 52kg, a limit speed of more than 15,000 rpm, and an explosion of 153.6 horsepower.
Moreover, the engine adopts a distributed collaborative manufacturing model. Many top companies across the country divide the labor to process key components, and finally assemble them in Wuxi and other places.
For example, the engine cylinder head is processed by Xiangqing Precision Industry (Anhui) Co., Ltd., and the crankshaft, connecting rod, and engine case are processed by Jiangsu Gangyang Co., Ltd.
Its electronic control intelligent system is 100% domestically produced and integrates Huawei terminal car-machine interconnection functions to form a complete intelligent control system.
This series of breakthroughs in manufacturing technology enabled Zhang Xue Motorcycles to break the monopoly of European, American and Japanese brands, and demonstrated the strength of the Chinese motorcycle industry in its transition from “Made in China” to “Intelligent Made in China”.
The success of Zhang Xue’s motorcycle is just a microcosm of China’s machinery manufacturing.
In terms of scale, China’s machinery industry will achieve remarkable results in 2025.
The added value of enterprises above designated size increased by 8.2% year-on-year, higher than the national industrial and manufacturing average.
The total import and export volume of goods trade for the whole year was US$1.27 trillion, with export volume reaching US$986.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%, and a trade surplus of US$706.84 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24.1%.
This shows that China’s machinery products have moved from “cheap” to “high quality” in the international market, from “following” to “leading”, and the machinery industry has also become the backbone of the national economy.
As the “industrial mother machine”, the machine tool industry has achieved a historic leap in 2025.
Export volume surpassed Germany for the first time and ranked first in the world, accounting for 21.6% of the global machine tool export business.
Exports of German domestic manufacturers fell by 10%, while China’s exports increased by 18%.
The output value of machine tools made in China accounts for 32.1% of the world’s total output value, and its consumption accounts for 32.5% of the world’s total, ranking first in the world for more than ten consecutive years.
In the high-end field, China’s machine tool industry has achieved a comprehensive surplus, marking China’s transformation from a major importer of machine tools to a powerful exporter.
Innovation is the core driving force for China’s machinery manufacturing industry to reach the top.
In 2025, the world’s largest diameter shaft boring machine “Qiming” was successfully rolled off the production line and installed for use; breakthroughs were made in core technologies such as robot motion control and reliability.
The echelon of innovation entities is increasingly improving, and the machinery industry has many individual champion companies in the manufacturing industry, “little giant” companies that specialize in new technologies, and small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in new technologies.
In specific fields, the scale of the CNC machine tool industry reached 1.4 trillion yuan, the localization rate of mid-to-high-end CNC machine tools increased to 72%, and the annual output of five-axis machine tools reached 38,000 units.
In terms of global market layout, China’s machinery manufacturing industry also presents a diversified and co-progressive pattern.
In 2025, exports to countries co-building the Belt and Road Initiative, RCEP member states, the EU and ASEAN will all see significant growth.
Looking back on the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the foreign trade scale of the machinery industry has exceeded US$1 trillion for five consecutive years, and the export performance has been outstanding.
The pinnacle status of China’s machinery manufacturing industry benefits from the most complete industrial system in the world.
The distributed collaborative manufacturing model, taking Zhang Xue’s motorcycle as an example, demonstrates the advantages of China’s complete high-precision machining system, including rapid response capabilities, cost control advantages, technology iteration speed and customization capabilities.
However, China’s machinery manufacturing industry still faces some challenges, such as technological dependence in cutting-edge fields such as high-end five-axis machine tools and aerospace engines, brand value and global premium capabilities need to be improved, and basic materials and processes are still far behind the top level.
However, with the further advancement of the “Manufacturing Power” strategy, China’s machinery manufacturing industry is transforming from “scale and speed” to “quality and efficiency”. It is expected that the growth rate of the main indicators of the machinery industry will be around 5.5% in 2026, continuing to maintain a stable operating trend.
From Zhang Xue’s championship on the track to the global summit of machine tool exports, China’s machinery manufacturing industry has used tangible data to prove that China’s manufacturing has moved from “assembly and follower” to “original leader” and from “world factory” to “innovation highland”.
In the capital market, the sharp rise in industrial machine ETFs also reflects this trend, providing investors with new choices and opportunities.
