At the 2024 World Manufacturing Conference, the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Entrepreneurs Association released a list of the top 500 Chinese manufacturing enterprises. This list not only shows the strong strength and innovation vitality of China's manufacturing industry, but also provides us with valuable data to gain insight into the development trend of the industry and the vitality of the regional economy.
Figure: The 2024 list of China's top 500 manufacturing industries has been released
First of all, the top 10 companies on the list are Sinopec, China Baowu, Sinochem, China Minmetals, Hengli Group, SAIC, Huawei, China FAW, Rongsheng Group and BYD, and their leading positions reflect their outstanding performance and industry influence in their respective fields. Sinopec topped the list with an operating revenue of 3.04 trillion yuan, while Huawei ranked first in R&D investment with an R&D intensity of 23.39%, demonstrating its firm determination and remarkable results in technological innovation.
The entry threshold for China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises in 2024 has been raised to 17.062 billion yuan, an increase of 512 million yuan from the previous year, which reflects the overall strength of China's manufacturing industry and the improvement of market competitiveness. The total operating income of these enterprises reached 52.01 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.86%, although this growth rate is not high, but in the current context of weak global economic recovery, it still shows the resilience and potential of China's manufacturing industry.
In terms of R&D investment, the top 500 enterprises invested a total of about 1.23 trillion yuan in R&D, a year-on-year increase of 12.51%, and the R&D intensity reached 2.37%, an increase of 0.04 percentage points over the previous year. These data show that China's manufacturing enterprises are continuously increasing their R&D efforts, driving development with innovation, and enhancing their core competitiveness. The number of effective patents reached 1,493,700, including 717,300 invention patents, an increase of 3.85% and 11.35% respectively over the previous year, and the proportion of invention patents increased to 48.02%, which means that the innovation quality of China's manufacturing industry is constantly improving.
In terms of internationalization, the overseas assets owned by the top 500 enterprises reached 7.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.81% year-on-year, and the overseas operating income was 7.13 trillion yuan, although it decreased slightly, but the number of overseas employees increased by 14.26% to 1.1376 million, and the transnational index increased to 16.33%.
From the perspective of regional distribution, the number of shortlisted enterprises in Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Hebei ranks in the top five, with 86, 68, 56, 43 and 33 respectively. This distribution reflects the strong strength and competitive advantage of these regions in the manufacturing sector, and is also consistent with the regional characteristics of China's economic development.
Overall, the 2024 list of China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises shows the positive progress of China's manufacturing industry in innovation-driven, international development and industrial upgrading. These enterprises are not only the leaders of China's manufacturing industry, but also an important support for the high-quality development of China's economy. With the changes in the global economic situation and the deepening of the scientific and technological revolution, China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises are expected to play a greater leading role in the future and promote the development of China's manufacturing industry in a higher-end, smarter and greener direction.
Figure:List of China's Top 500 Manufacturing Enterprises in 2024
