According to Hunan Daily, on the morning of November 4, Wang Zhijun, Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, conducted an inspection tour in Changsha, emphasizing the need to "unswervingly make advanced manufacturing bigger and stronger." This was Wang Zhijun's first inspection visit after assuming his new post in Hunan.
During this inspection, Wang Zhijun visited two companies — Lens Technology (Changsha) Co., Ltd. and Hunan Sany Heavy Truck Technology Co., Ltd. Both companies are chain-leading enterprises and leading firms in Hunan's advanced manufacturing sector. Lens Technology (Changsha) Co., Ltd. provides one-stop precision manufacturing solutions for the entire intelligent terminal industry chain; Sany Group is a heavy engineering machinery manufacturer, and Hunan Sany Heavy Truck Technology Co., Ltd. is an important vehicle for Sany Group's transformation.
"Advanced manufacturing" was the key phrase of this inspection. Manufacturing is an important component of the real economy, a matter of the lifeblood of the national economy, the foundation of building the nation and the basis for making the country strong. It directly relates to technological innovation, industrial upgrading, employment stability, and national defense security, and determines a country's overall strength and international competitiveness. China is the world's largest manufacturing nation, with a complete manufacturing system and significant supporting advantages, and its manufacturing value-added scale has ranked first globally for 16 consecutive years. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's manufacturing scale and quality have continuously reached new heights, and the building of a manufacturing powerhouse has taken solid steps. In 2025, manufacturing value-added reached 34.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.1% over the previous year, with its share of GDP stable at around 25%. Looking ahead, manufacturing remains the top priority.
Against one backdrop: from a global perspective, profound changes unseen in a century are accelerating, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is rapidly advancing, and China's manufacturing development environment faces profound and complex changes, with intensified containment and suppression, increasingly fierce competition, and an accelerating pace of catching up. How should manufacturing develop next? "Advanced manufacturing" is the answer. Advanced manufacturing represents the high-end segment of the manufacturing industry chain and is the main battlefield of great-power technological and industrial competition, featuring high technology, high quality, high added value, and high efficiency. The "15th Five-Year Plan" outline has already made clear the goal of "building a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone." In September of this year, China held its first National Advanced Manufacturing Conference, calling for "efforts to promote the intelligent, green, and integrated development of manufacturing."
The height of a region's manufacturing often determines its position in the national economic landscape. Hunan is a major economic province and also a major manufacturing province. Building an important national advanced manufacturing highland is a strategic positioning assigned to Hunan by the central government. On the one hand, Hunan is a key hub connecting the "Belt" and the "Road" and linking coastal and inland areas, with reserves of key metals such as antimony, tungsten, and tin ranking among the top in the country. On the other hand, Hunan is rich in scientific and educational resources, with 139 universities including National University of Defense Technology and Central South University. In addition, Hunan covers 39 major industrial categories, 194 medium categories, and 603 sub-categories, with the province's industry and producer services contributing 67.4% to economic growth. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Hunan's total industrial value-added rose from 1.24 trillion yuan to 1.61 trillion yuan, the share of manufacturing value-added in regional GDP reached 26.4%, rising three places to seventh nationwide, and the average annual growth of industrial value-added above designated size was 6.8%, 0.9 percentage points higher than the national average, producing a number of major national achievements such as ultra-high-speed rail trains, the BeiDou Navigation System, super-large-diameter tunnel boring machines, and deep-sea drilling rigs. In the future, Hunan will accelerate the building of a strong manufacturing province. Hunan's "15th Five-Year Plan" outline mentions that the share of manufacturing value-added in regional GDP will continue to exceed the national average, and the overall strength and core competitiveness of advanced manufacturing will remain firmly in the first tier nationwide. The outline also mentions developing intelligent manufacturing, green manufacturing, and service-oriented manufacturing.
Two keywords deserve attention. "Artificial intelligence." During this visit to Lens Technology (Changsha) Co., Ltd., Wang Zhijun inspected products such as new displays and embodied intelligence. According to local media, Lens Technology had long been labeled as part of the "Apple chain." Under Apple's strong supply chain management, Lens Technology's profits were squeezed and its strategy constrained, but the company has been seeking a "second growth curve," and its business footprint has now expanded into high-end manufacturing, new energy vehicles, AI intelligent terminals, humanoid robots, and other fields. Wang Zhijun pointed out that currently, new-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence are accelerating breakthroughs, AI is entering countless households and empowering all industries, and this will certainly provide a broad market for the inclusive application of intelligent terminals and give technological wings to the precision manufacturing of intelligent terminals. "We hope enterprises will seize strategic opportunities, identify the right development track, strengthen technological research, and advance innovation facility investment, technology research and development, and product iteration and upgrading in an integrated manner, accelerating the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productivity, and continuously enhancing market competitiveness."
"Transformation and upgrading." Heavy equipment manufacturing is a traditional industry with distinctive advantages in Hunan, and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries is an inherent requirement for developing new quality productive forces. At Hunan Sany Heavy Truck Technology Co., Ltd., Wang Zhijun pointed out that new energy equipment manufacturing and application are conducive to ecological and environmental protection and to optimizing the energy structure. "We hope enterprises will go all out and unswervingly promote transformation and upgrading through digital and intelligent technologies and green technologies, expanding their own growth space while serving major needs of economic and social development." From "artificial intelligence" to "transformation and upgrading," one main thread runs through it all: advanced manufacturing must both seize positions in frontier fields and tap potential and renew traditional advantageous industries. Together, these constitute the practical path for Hunan to build an important national advanced manufacturing highland.
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