On May 14, workers from China Railway 11th Bureau Group were operating at the tied-arch construction site of the Jinjiazhaidai Bridge on the Anhui section of the Hefei-Wuhan High-Speed Railway. The "Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan" identifies 109 major projects across six key areas, serving as the master blueprint for national development over the next five years. Among these 109 major projects, 28 focus on leading the development of new quality productive forces, 23 on building a modern infrastructure system, and 18 on promoting green and low-carbon transformation. These 69 projects combined account for over 60% of the total, with the industrial sector remaining the most prominent component of this blueprint.
To understand how these 109 major projects solidify the industrial foundation for high-quality development, it is essential to grasp three underlying logics: using "Two Major Initiatives" to build a secure foundation, leveraging "Two New Policies" to unblock the supply-demand cycle, and utilizing new quality productive forces to open new growth spaces.
**Consolidation and Upgrading: Building the Pillars of a Modern Industrial System**
In recent years, China's economy has navigated challenges with strong resilience and vitality, largely supported by its comprehensive industrial system. The Outline prioritizes building a modern industrial system and accelerating high-level self-reliance in science and technology as two leading strategic tasks. It emphasizes using technological innovation to drive industrial upgrading, with digitalization, intelligentization, and green transformation serving as key breakthrough points, while developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions.
The logic behind building the industrial system is clear from its specific pathways. On one hand, "consolidating the foundation" involves strengthening the competitiveness of industries such as mining, metallurgy, chemicals, light industry, textiles, machinery, shipbuilding, and construction, enhancing the self-sufficiency and controllability of industrial chains, and stabilizing the fundamental base of the real economy. In terms of industrial foundation reconstruction, efforts are concentrated on tackling bottlenecks in high-end new materials, core components, basic software, industrial machine tools, and high-end instruments to address weaknesses in industrial and supply chains, thereby improving the autonomy, controllability, and security resilience of the industrial system.
On the other hand, "fostering the new" involves seizing the strategic opportunities presented by the new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation to cultivate and expand emerging and future industries. In developing and growing emerging industries, the focus is on accelerating the development of strategic emerging sectors such as next-generation information technology, new energy, new materials, smart and connected new energy vehicles, robotics, biopharmaceuticals, high-end equipment, aerospace, and aviation. In forward-looking layout of future industries, efforts are directed toward making quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communication new economic growth points.
It is noteworthy that the Outline includes a significant increase in major projects at the industrial level and adds a special section on cultivating and developing new industries and tracks. This section covers ten major fields, including integrated circuits, embodied intelligence, bio-manufacturing, new-type batteries, commercial aerospace, domestically produced large aircraft, low-altitude equipment, green hydrogen energy, brain-computer interfaces, and high-end medical devices, fully reflecting a firm orientation toward innovation-driven development.
**Building the Foundation with "Two Major Initiatives": Serving National Major Strategies and Safeguarding Industrial Security**
The "Two Major Initiatives" refer to the implementation of national major strategies and the enhancement of security capabilities in key areas, serving as critical levers for balancing development and security during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Among the 109 major projects, six projects directly focus on security guarantees in key areas, targeting the safety of strategic materials such as grain and energy. These involve grain reserves, oil and gas exploration, development and reserves, coal-to-oil and gas bases, a new round of mineral exploration breakthroughs, strategic material reserves and emergency rescue, and disaster monitoring and forecasting systems, forming a "firewall" to protect industrial security. Major projects in other fields are also deeply embedded in the strategic logic of the "Two Major Initiatives."
In terms of energy security, seven major projects for building a new energy system are sequentially deployed: major hydropower and integrated water-wind-solar bases, new energy bases in areas such as deserts and Gobi regions, offshore wind power bases, coastal nuclear power, power transmission channels, power mutual assistance projects, and natural gas pipeline networks. Taking the Yalong River Basin integrated water-wind-solar base as an example, it relies on three "super reservoirs"—Lianghekou, Jinping I, and Ertan—with a total regulated storage capacity of 14.8 billion cubic meters, enabling large-scale development of wind and solar new energy. Upon completion, the downstream hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River will provide approximately 300 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually, directly replacing 90 million tons of standard coal. Combined, these projects will significantly reduce China's dependence on foreign energy sources, solidifying a secure foundation for the industrial system.
From a funding perspective, the "Two Major Initiatives" continue to expand in scope and intensity: 700 billion yuan was allocated in 2024 to support 1,465 projects, 800 billion yuan is arranged for 2025 to support 1,459 projects, and approximately 295 billion yuan was allocated in advance for 2026. This "strategic capital infusion" is being precisely channeled into areas such as industrial foundation reconstruction and breakthroughs in major technical equipment, strongly supporting the implementation of the 109 major projects.
**Driven by "Two New Policies": Promoting Coordinated Upgrades on Both Supply and Demand Sides**
If the "Two Major Initiatives" lay a solid foundation, the "Two New Policies" activate the cycle. Promoting large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods replacement is a major decision and deployment made by the Central Committee and the State Council with a focus on the overall situation of high-quality development. Infrastructure construction and industrial upgrading projects among the 109 major projects are providing broad application scenarios and market space for the "Two New Policies."
Taking infrastructure projects as an example, major projects during the 15th Five-Year Plan period focus on "six networks": water networks, power grids, computing power networks, new-type communication networks, urban underground pipeline networks, and logistics networks. Preliminary estimates suggest that investment in the "six networks" and key area construction will exceed 7 trillion yuan this year. Such a massive scale of investment and construction will inevitably generate substantial demand for large-scale equipment renewal, from construction machinery and power equipment to communication devices and testing instruments, creating sustained orders for equipment updates.
At the policy level, the equipment renewal policy for 2026 has been further expanded. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a notice adding subsidies for equipment renewal in elderly care institutions, fire and rescue facility updates, and inspection and testing equipment updates, while supporting equipment renewal in offline consumption commercial facilities such as commercial complexes. The application threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises has been significantly lowered to ensure they "fully enjoy" policy benefits. Regarding consumer goods replacement, 2026 will see smart glasses included in the "national subsidy" for the first time, alongside continued subsidies for mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatches/bands. Local governments are also allowed to implement subsidies for smart home and age-friendly products according to local conditions, directing subsidy funds toward smart consumption areas with strong demand, rapid growth, and high potential.
Coordinated efforts on both supply and demand sides form a virtuous cycle of "demand driving supply and supply creating demand," which is precisely the industrial ecosystem the 109 major projects aim to shape.
**Moving Toward the "New": Opening New Industrial Growth Spaces with New Quality Productive Forces**
Among the 109 major projects, "leading the development of new quality productive forces" is placed at the forefront. A total of 28 projects are proposed around enhancing industrial foundation capabilities and competitiveness, cultivating and developing new industries and tracks, tackling cutting-edge technologies, and improving innovation foundation capabilities, accounting for 25.7% of all projects. Zhu Keli, founding dean of the National Research Institute for New Economy, commented that the Outline explicitly includes future industries in the major project system for the first time, extending the cultivation of new quality productive forces from traditional strategic emerging industries to cutting-edge future industries, filling the gap in the large-scale layout of future industries.
The capital market has already responded resoundingly. Since the beginning of this year, investment and financing activity has continued to rise in several industrial fields involved in major projects, such as commercial aerospace, brain-computer interfaces, and embodied intelligence. In the commercial aerospace sector,
The cultivation of new quality productive forces is reflected not only in emerging industries but also in the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional industries. Currently, the integrated application of China's industrial internet covers all 41 major industrial categories, with 504 exemplary smart factories and 1,260 high-level 5G factories cultivated.
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