In the south wing of the Jinyi Metropolitan Area in central Zhejiang, there is a hard-core city called Yongkang that “builds the city with hardware and prospers the country with industry”.
As the world’s hardware capital, China’s door capital, and China’s cup capital, Yongkang covers an area of 1,049 square kilometers and has a permanent population of over 960,000. It has been selected as one of the top 100 counties in the country for 19 consecutive years.
In 2025, the GDP will reach 87.59 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 6%, and the total industrial output value above designated size will exceed 108.94 billion yuan. With the distinctive characteristics of “deep foundation of traditional manufacturing and accelerating rise of new driving forces”, it leads China’s county industrial economy and is making every effort to build the world’s advanced manufacturing base and quality and vitality Yongkang.
1. Economic base: steady progress, industrial strength and strong market strength
Yongkang’s economy presents a pattern of “industrial dominance, coordination of three industries, and improvement of both quality and efficiency”. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, GDP jumped from 63.98 billion yuan to 87.59 billion yuan, and the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size exceeded 21.42 billion yuan. Its comprehensive strength ranks first among counties in the country.
The core indicators in 2025 are outstanding:
- Total economic volume: GDP is 87.59 billion yuan, an increase of 6%, and per capita GDP reaches 140,500 yuan, reaching the level of high-income economies.
- Industrial pillars: The total industrial output value above designated size is 108.94 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2%. More than 90% comes from the hardware industry. The world-class hardware industry cluster has passed national certification.
- Income consumption: The per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents reached 75,000 yuan and 53,000 yuan respectively, with an income multiple difference of 1.41. Jinhua leads the way in common prosperity.
- Investment vitality: Fixed asset investment was 26.79 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7%. It was encouraged by the province’s investment “horse race”. There are more than 198,000 market entities, and the density of entrepreneurship is leading the country.
2. Industrial foundation: Hardware is king, world-class clusters lead the world
Hardware is the root and soul of Yongkang. After thousands of years of accumulation and decades of iteration, it has formed six core industries: door industry, cup industry, power tools, leisure sports vehicles, kitchen utensils and bathrooms, and hardware accessories, building the most complete hardware industry chain in the world. “Made in Yongkang” sells well in more than 210 countries and regions around the world.
- Door Capital of China: 7 out of 10 security doors in the country are produced in Yongkang, with an annual output of over 30 million doors of all types, an industrial cluster output value of over 50 billion yuan, and leading companies such as Buyang and Wang Li leading industry standards.
- Chinese Cup Capital: The national market share of thermos cups is 60% and the global market share is nearly 30%. The annual output of thermos cups exceeds 500 million. Companies such as Hals and Nanlong dominate the global mid-to-high-end market.
- Sports and leisure vehicles: the national market share is 45%, and electric scooters, fascia guns and other products have a global share of over 80%, becoming a popular cross-border e-commerce category.
- Power tools: National small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industry cluster, Sanfeng Industrial and others were awarded national manufacturing individual champions, and their products are exported to Europe, America and Southeast Asia.
3. Transformation momentum: Integration of data and reality, accelerating the rise of new productive forces
Faced with the challenge of “a high proportion of traditional industries and a need to improve innovation levels”, Yongkang adheres to the two-wheel drive of “intelligent transformation and digital transformation + emerging cultivation” to promote the hardware industry to leap from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing”, and the new track is surging with momentum.
1. Digital-real integration empowers traditional industries
In 2025, Yongkang will have 7 new provincial smart factories (digital workshops), 1 5G factory, and 1 future factory pilot. The added value of the core manufacturing industry of the digital economy will reach 2.96 billion yuan, and the revenue of the core artificial intelligence industry will exceed 6 billion yuan, ranking first in Jinhua.
The company’s digital transformation has been fully covered, production efficiency has increased by more than 30%, and the new model of “Yongkang Hardware + AI” has been accelerated.
2. Cultivation and growth of emerging industries
Focusing on the four new tracks of new energy automobile parts, photovoltaic energy storage, smart equipment, and forestry and grassland equipment, the proportion of new industries in 2025 will reach 25.6%, an increase of nearly 20 percentage points from the end of the “13th Five-Year Plan”.
The construction of platforms such as the National Forestry and Grassland Equipment Science and Technology Innovation Park, Central Zhejiang Energy Storage Industrial Park, and Aviation Industrial Park has been accelerated to create a new industrial cluster of “10,000 acres and 100 billion”.
3. Innovation drives and strengthens core support
The total social R&D investment reached 2.447 billion yuan, accounting for 2.93% of GDP. The number of national high-tech enterprises exceeded 400, and there were more than 120 specialized and special new enterprises at the provincial level and above. The increase in innovation index ranked first in the province and first in Jinhua.
Introduce top institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences to set up workstations, break through key technologies such as smart door locks and new materials for thermos cups, and promote the upgrading of the industry to high-end and branding.
4. Open hub: internal and external linkage to build an important node of double circulation
Yongkang adheres to the principle of “Yongkang Hardware Goes to the World, and World Hardware Gathers in Yongkang”. Relying on the integration of the Jinyi Metropolitan Area, it builds a three-dimensional open system of “dry port + e-commerce + exhibition”, and the opening level of inland cities continues to rise.
- Logistics hub: Connecting with Yiwu Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port to create the “Yongkang-Yiwu-Ningbo” rail-sea intermodal transport channel. In 2025, the total foreign trade import and export volume will exceed 55 billion yuan, with exports accounting for over 90%. The increase in exports of hardware products ranks among the top in Zhejiang counties.
- Digital trade: Cross-border e-commerce and live-streaming e-commerce have experienced explosive growth. In 2025, cross-border e-commerce transaction volume will exceed 30 billion yuan, and categories such as thermos cups and power tools firmly rank first in cross-border platform sales.
- Exhibition Economy: China Hardware Expo has been held for 29 consecutive years. In 2025, the exhibition transaction volume will exceed 14 billion yuan, becoming the “vane” of the global hardware industry.
5. Future Vision: Build a strong city with intelligence and create a benchmark for the world’s hardware capital
Anchoring the overall positioning of “World Hardware Capital, Quality and Vitality Yongkang”, Yongkang takes the “15th Five-Year Plan” as a blueprint and aims to achieve by 2030: GDP exceeding 120 billion yuan, industrial added value above designated size exceeding 30 billion yuan, total foreign trade import and export reaching 70 billion yuan, and building into a world advanced manufacturing base, a high-level inland opening hub, and a pioneer demonstration city for common prosperity.
1. Industrial upgrading: building a world-class intelligent manufacturing cluster
Strengthen the leading hardware industry, promote the upgrade of the door industry and cup industry to smart, high-end, and brand; strengthen emerging industries such as new energy and intelligent equipment, and form a “hardware + new energy + AI” diversified industrial ecology, with the total industrial output value exceeding 200 billion yuan.
2. Innovation leadership: building a highland for technological innovation empowerment
Strive to become a national-level economic development zone and high-tech zone, upgrade the scientific and technological innovation platform, introduce and cultivate high-end talents, stabilize R&D investment intensity at more than 3%, and high-tech industry output value accounted for more than 70%, and create a source of innovation in the Yangtze River Delta manufacturing industry.
3. Openness and improvement: building a dual-circulation node city
Deepen the coordinated development with Yiwu and Jinhua, open up logistics, talent, and industrial channels; expand overseas markets, layout overseas warehouses and sub-markets, improve the level of cross-border e-commerce, and create a hardware trading hub that “buys globally and sells globally”.
4. Quality and livable: building a model city for common prosperity
Promote organic urban renewal, improve public services such as education, medical care, and elderly care, narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, and reduce the income gap between urban and rural residents to less than 1.3; practice green development, optimize the energy structure, and build a quality city with beautiful ecology, livability, and industry.
From “hardware craftsmen traveling everywhere” to “the hardware capital of the world”, from traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing, Yongkang’s development is a vivid epitome of the transformation and upgrading of China’s county industry.
In the future, this city with industry as its foundation, innovation as its soul and openness as its wings will continue to write the “Hardware Legend” in the new era with a hard-working and courageous attitude to be the first, allowing the world’s hardware to look at China and Chinese hardware to look at Yongkang!
