The 2023 World Manufacturing Convention (WMC) was opened on September 20 in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. In the convention, the list of “Top 500 Chinese Manufacturing Enterprises in 2023” was released, indicating that the operating revenue of China’s top 500 manufacturing enterprises in 2023 has exceeded 50 trillion RMB for the first time, reaching 51.06 trillion RMB, which was an increase of 8.38%.
Among the top 500 manufacturing enterprises, the heavy chemical industry still occupies the main position, and four out of the five industries with the largest operating revenue belong to the heavy chemical industries. Meanwhile, the pace of development of strategic emerging industries has accelerated, and most of the enterprises with the top operating revenue and net profit growth are strategic emerging industry enterprises. The top five industry’s average revenue growth rates are from power batteries and energy storage batteries, wind energy, solar equipment manufacturing, medical equipment manufacturing, computer and office equipment and chemical fiber manufacturing, of which the top three growth rate reached more than 45%, respectively 59.72%, 49.42%, 45.54%. According to the analysis of the ranking, the total R&D expenses of China’s top 500 manufacturing enterprises in 2023 have reached 109.6215 billion RMB, which was an increase of 3.83% over the previous year; the R&D intensity was 2.33%, which is at a high level in recent years. The average R&D expenses of industries such as aerospace, communication equipment manufacturing, railway traffic equipment manufacturing, textile printing and dyeing are at the forefront from the perspective of various industries.
The “2023 Development Report on Anhui Manufacturing” prepared by the Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology was also released on the day of the convention. The report shows that the average annual growth rate of industrial value added of enterprises above the designated size in Anhui Province was 9.5% from 2012 to 2022, ranking the first in the central region, the first in the Yangtze River Delta and the fourth in whole China. In 2022, the province’s industrial enterprises above the designated size have achieved an operating revenue of 4.9 trillion RMB, ranking 10th in the country. Among them, manufacturing enterprises above the designated size have achieved an operating revenue of 4.4 trillion RMB; the added value of the manufacturing industry has exceeded 1 trillion RMB, accounting for 26.5% of GDP, which was an increase of 0.3 percentage points over the previous year.
In recent years, Anhui’s manufacturing industry has accelerated the development of integrated clustering, especially the clustering of advanced manufacturing chains, forming an unformidable trend. The top one industry is “automobile” with irresistible force, while the PV and energy storage gathering “sparkling light” into a raging torch, the IC industry showing its brilliant “core”, the new “displays and screens” experiencing a rapid boom, and the AI “valley” astonishing the world. A number of industrial landmarks have become an important force leading the trend of China’s and even the world’s manufacturing industry.