The machinery industry successfully completed the goals and tasks of the “14th Five-Year Plan” and performed well in many indicators.
It was learned from relevant press conferences on February 5 that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the machinery industry has thoroughly implemented the requirements for high-quality development and effectively responded to various impacts and challenges, laying a solid foundation for promoting new industrialization and the construction of a modern industrial system.
Ye Dingda, Vice President of the China Machinery Industry Federation, said that the machinery industry conscientiously implements the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. With the support of a series of national policies and measures to stabilize growth, the industry’s economic operation is stable and making progress, high-quality development has achieved positive results, and the “14th Five-Year Plan” has been successfully completed.
First of all, the scale of the industry continues to grow and the foundation for development becomes more solid.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the added value of enterprises above designated size in the machinery industry grew at an average annual rate of 7.4%, a growth rate that was 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the national industry.
The number of enterprises above designated size increased to 137,000, with an average annual growth of 8.3%, total assets increased to 42 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth of 8.8%, operating income increased to 33.2 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth of 7.9%. The proportion of the three indicators in the national industry increased by 2.0, 1.4 and 2.4 percentage points respectively compared with 2020, and the overall strength and contribution of the industry further improved.
Secondly, innovation capabilities have been significantly enhanced, and supply capabilities in key areas have been significantly improved.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the machinery industry continued to strengthen the construction of the innovation system and basically formed an industry innovation network covering key areas.
The cultivation of innovative entities has achieved remarkable results. By the end of 2025, the machinery industry has more than 500 individual champion companies in the manufacturing industry, more than 5,000 “little giant” companies that specialize in new technologies, and more than 40,000 small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in new technologies. The number of enterprises in the three categories all accounts for more than 30% of the country’s total.
R&D investment has grown steadily. In 2024, the total R&D funding for the five major national economic industries involved will reach 763.56 billion yuan, an increase of 47.7% compared with 2020; the R&D investment intensity is 2.42%, an increase of 0.21 percentage points from 2020, and 0.78 and 0.60 percentage points higher than the national industry and manufacturing industry in the same period.
Major equipment innovations have emerged one after another, and the independence of high-end equipment manufacturing has been further consolidated.
Furthermore, green and intelligent two-wheel drive has achieved outstanding results in transformation and upgrading.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the machinery industry’s green and low-carbon transformation, digital transformation and intelligent transformation and upgrading have achieved remarkable results.
The new energy vehicle industry is booming. The production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2025 will reach 16.626 million and 16.49 million respectively, which is more than 12 times that in 2020, with an average annual growth of 65%; the market penetration rate has increased significantly from 5.4% in 2020 to 47.9% in 2025, exceeding the planned target ahead of schedule.
Clean energy equipment has developed rapidly. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the output of wind turbines (measured by power) increased by 2.9 times. In 2025, the output of wind turbines accounted for more than 55% of the output of all generating units, an increase of nearly 20 percentage points compared with 2020.
New productive forces are growing vigorously, traditional industries are accelerating upgrading, emerging industries are growing, and advanced intelligent equipment such as intelligent agricultural machinery and intelligent engineering machinery continues to make breakthroughs.
The construction of smart factories is accelerating, new business formats and new models are constantly emerging, and enterprises are accelerating their transformation from single product manufacturing to “product + service” integrated solutions.
Finally, international competitiveness has been significantly improved, and the status of the global industrial chain has been steadily improved.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the scale of foreign trade in the machinery industry continued to hit new highs.
The total import and export volume of goods trade has exceeded US$1 trillion for five consecutive years, with a cumulative growth of 61.5% in the past five years and an average annual growth of 10.1%.
Among them, export performance is particularly outstanding, with a cumulative growth of 1.1 times in the past five years, approaching US$1 trillion, with an average annual growth of 16.1%; its proportion in the national foreign trade export volume increased from 18.0% in 2020 to 26.2% in 2025.
The trade structure continues to be optimized, and the proportion of exports of high value-added products has increased significantly.
The export of complete machinery and equipment has achieved an order of magnitude leap, and the export volume of complete automobiles has jumped from 1.054 million units in 2020 to 8.084 million units in 2025, ranking first in the world.
Ye Dingda predicted that looking forward to 2026 and even the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the development of the machinery industry will be faced with a deepening impact of changes in the external environment and increasing risks and challenges.
The international situation is generally tightening, with frequent geopolitical conflicts and sudden changes in the tariff game. The global economy is facing downward pressure, international market demand is shrinking, the foreign trade environment is becoming increasingly complex, and uncertainty has increased significantly.
The contradiction between strong domestic supply and weak demand is prominent, and the problems of price “involution” and difficulty in collecting accounts in some industries have become prominent.
At the same time, favorable conditions supporting the high-quality development of the industry are constantly accumulating and increasing.
