A special report has just been released that highlights a city's remarkable journey in its "Number One Industry," a term that carries real weight. This is not just a slogan on paper, but a city's clear-eyed assessment of its own greatest strength and a decisive step towards its future ambitions. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the city has benchmarked itself against international standards, seized multiple strategic opportunities, and worked steadily to turn the blueprint of its top industry into a thriving reality.

From a scale of under 100 billion yuan in 2021, the industry has surged to 193 billion yuan by 2025, now accounting for one-fifth of the nation's total revenue. In the first half of this year alone, the cluster's output reached 120 billion yuan, a 27% year-on-year increase, a set of figures that represents the city's firm footprint in the tide of the times. Now, standing at the starting line of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the city is launching a new charge towards the global high ground of construction machinery with a broader vision and more determined steps.

The "Number One Industry" is not a solitary peak but a collection of competitive mountains. A clear development logic runs through it all: leader-led, map-based investment attraction, and ecosystem synergy. As the undisputed chain leader, XCMG Group alone drives the synchronized development of over 1,000 upstream and downstream enterprises in the province and more than 4,000 globally. The Xuzhou Economic Development Zone has gathered 132 industrial enterprises above designated size, bringing together the two international giants, XCMG and Caterpillar, which in turn radiate to over 300 related companies. The practice of using an industry chain map for investment is the unique skill that keeps the city's construction machinery sector forever young, propelling the zone to become the country's largest manufacturing and R&D base with the most construction machinery production and service companies.

The city has built a "1+100+1000" innovation matrix: one 100-billion-yuan-level leader as the helm, 100 supporting enterprises with revenues exceeding 100 million yuan as the oars, and 1,000 SMEs as the sails, all moving together towards the deep blue sea. Leading companies stand tall while supporting industries spread far and wide. Today, construction machinery is no longer a solo performance for a single company, but a lush and vibrant industrial forest. In 2026, XCMG Group secured its position as the world's third-largest and China's largest construction machinery enterprise with a revenue of 14.368 billion US dollars, a new milestone for Chinese manufacturing. In contrast, the deep-dive layouts of global giants like Caterpillar and ThyssenKrupp create a powerful competitive dynamic. Caterpillar has not only gradually shifted core product manufacturing to the city but has also arranged a series of supporting projects with international advanced standards. Meanwhile, Xuzhou Rothe Erde Slewing Bearing Co., Ltd. has brought in Germany's latest design and manufacturing technology, quality assurance systems, and advanced management methods, connecting the city's manufacturing to international standards without time lag.

From leader traction to ecosystem synergy, from nurturing local talent to attracting global investment, the industrial forest is now lush and thriving, laying the most solid foundation for advancing toward a world-class industrial cluster. There is a clear understanding etched into this industry's core: "Innovation is the source of a company's core competitiveness; much core technology cannot be obtained by asking or buying." Over the past five years, the city has promoted independent innovation with unprecedented intensity, turning a list of bottlenecks into a scorecard of achievements. In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially approved Jiangsu Huizhi High-end Construction Machinery Innovation Center to establish the national-level manufacturing innovation center for high-end construction machinery. This upgrade from a provincial platform to a national one is not just a change of title but a strategic boost for the entire industry chain's autonomous and controllable capabilities.

In the Xuzhou Economic Development Zone, construction on the second phase of the National Innovation Center is in full swing. In Liuquan Town, a comprehensive experimental base for intelligent machine cluster coordinated control of high-end construction machinery is about to begin, showcasing 13 intelligent application scenarios like open-pit mines, providing a "Xuzhou solution" for unmanned and less-manned operations. Collaboration between universities and industry is also accelerating. The Intelligent Equipment Branch School has been established and is operational, and XCMG Group has signed a strategic agreement with Southeast University to jointly build a laboratory for intelligent control technology in construction machinery. From basic research to technical breakthroughs, from achievement transformation to industrial application, a complete innovation chain is rapidly taking shape. The numbers are compelling: over the last five years, the city's effective invention patents in the construction machinery field have grown at an average annual rate of over 30%, and it has participated in the revision and establishment of over 100 international, national, and industry standards. From following to running alongside, and now to leading, the city is firmly grasping the lifeline of industrial security, making the backbone of China's construction machinery industry stronger and more stable. Innovation is the rope for climbing to a world-class summit, and the city is holding it tightly, step by step ascending.

If the past five years have been about laying a strong foundation, the next five are about building on that momentum. In June, the city's 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly outlined strategies for high-end, intelligent, green, service-oriented, and international development. The goal is to build a world-class advanced manufacturing cluster, becoming a global highland for talent, scientific and technological innovation, and intelligent manufacturing in the industry, with a target industrial output of 300 billion yuan by 2030. The goals are clear, and so is the path. With intelligent manufacturing, factories are learning to "think." In November, one heavy machinery company was selected as one of the first 15 pilot intelligent factories in China, with a model capable of simultaneously receiving and producing orders for over 50 cranes across nine models from international clients. This experience is now being replicated across 35 other global bases, planting the seeds of intelligent manufacturing more widely. Green transformation is steering the industry into a new lane. At a vast open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, 100 electric unmanned mining trucks are operating around the clock. From a nine-truck trial in 2023 to the world's first commercial deployment of a 100-unit fleet in 2025, this three-year period has written a legend of smart mines transitioning from pilot projects to large-scale commercial use. In 2024, XCMG led the development of China's first batch of national standards for electric construction machinery, and the city is now building a complete green industrial ecosystem, from electric machines to core battery, motor, and control systems. The aftermarket is creating a new growth curve. Global parts centers, remanufacturing centers, and used equipment trading hubs are fully operational, reducing remanufacturing costs by over 50%. An equipment lifecycle management system is connected to 280,000 pieces of equipment globally, fostering value-added services like remote maintenance and predictive upkeep. By shifting from selling products to offering services, and from one-off transactions to full lifecycle support, the industry's structure is becoming more robust and its momentum more sustainable.

Looking back over the past five years, from the clear positioning of the "Number One Industry" to the grand vision of building a world-class construction machinery cluster, the city has carved a path of industrial ascension. It is a path guided by leading enterprises, supported by innovation platforms, driven by intelligent manufacturing, steered by green transition, and extended by aftermarket services. Every step has been in sync with the rhythm of the times, with sights set on a vast horizon. The construction machinery industry has become the city's most distinctive symbol and its most powerful calling card. Now, the clarion call sounds again, and the journey is relaunched. With an unstoppable force, the city is setting off anew towards the global pinnacle of construction machinery.