QNB affirmed that China has succeeded in recent years in shifting its production system toward high-value activities, moving from exporting simple consumer goods to advanced manufacturing systems, which has strengthened its position at the upper end of global supply chains.
In its weekly report, the bank expected that discussions related to China’s new Five-Year Plan and its industrial policies would gain further momentum in the coming months, with a focus on key sectors, particularly artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
The report highlighted the importance of assessing the progress achieved so far as China approaches the completion of its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), and a decade after the launch of the Made in China 2025 strategy, which aims to shift the country from being the factory of the world to a global leader in advanced manufacturing.
According to the report, evidence shows that the strategy is bearing fruit. Based on the Critical Technology Tracker issued by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), China’s leadership in strategic technologies rose from only 3 out of 64 technologies in 2007 to 57 technologies in 2023, putting it ahead of most advanced economies in research and development related to technologies with strategic applications.
The report stated that this exceptional performance is clearly visible in key sectors such as robotics, electric vehicles, and green energy.
In this regard, the bank highlighted robotics, noting that according to the International Federation of Robotics, more than 290,000 industrial robots were installed in China in 202, -representing more than half of global robot installations.
These robots are defined as programmable mechanisms operating with a degree of autonomy to move, manipulate, or position items, meaning they follow instructions from a control system and possess physical components that allow motion, exertion of force, and task execution with varying levels of independence from continuous human control.
The report noted that the number of robots currently installed in China has surpassed two million units, the highest in the world. Robot density has risen as well, with China now ranking first globally at 470 robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees, surpassing other industrial powers such as Germany, Japan, and the United States.
The bank said that this wave of automation reflects a shift in China’s industrial landscape from labor-intensive assembly toward data-driven smart production, making China the world’s third-largest country in automation after South Korea and Singapore.
The report also highlighted similar leaps in other strategic sectors. China produced around 12.4 million electric vehicles in 2024, more than 70 percent of global production, while Chinese battery manufacturers collectively accounted for 56 percent of global production capacity.
In the solar energy sector, China dominates more than 80 percent of global manufacturing capacity across the entire value chain, from polysilicon to finished modules.
The report noted that China’s green transition is even clearer when viewed through the lens of energy: clean energy generation (hydropower, nuclear, wind, and solar) grew by around 16 percent year-on-year in 2024.
According to the International Energy Agency, China contributed nearly half of all new renewable energy capacity added worldwide that year.
Additionally, the report stated that China produced more photovoltaic power in 2024 than the rest of the world combined, and its installed wind capacity reached a level equivalent to the combined accumulated capacity of the United States and the European Union.
The report emphasized that this expansion is not a reflection of economic slowdown, but rather part of an integrated industrial project aimed at producing more clean energy efficiently and on a globally unprecedented scale.
It added that what makes this transformation distinctive is the high degree of interconnection between manufacturing, energy, and technology: advanced manufacturing supports the green transition through new materials, batteries, and grid technologies, while the expansion of clean energy lowers the cost base for further industrial development.
According to the report, these synergies are now evident in export data. China’s three new industries (electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar panels) combined have become one of the country’s largest export categories, competing with traditional electronics exports.