(Yicai Global) Dec. 2 -- Shenzhen, Suzhou, and Guangzhou were the top three cities in a ranking of the 100 leading cities in China for advanced manufacturing, according to a new report by market research firm CCID Consulting.

Shenzhen ranked first for the second year in a row, the report showed yesterday. In the first three quarters of 2022, the city’s gross domestic product rose 3.3 percent to CNY2.29 trillion (USD324.6 billion) from a year ago, buoyed by the speedy recovery of its manufacturing industry.

Advanced manufacturing is the basis for global scientific and tech innovation and the driving force of global economic development, CCID Consulting said, and it can demonstrate a country’s comprehensive strength and core competitiveness. Since the National Congress in 2012, China has attached great importance to the development of advanced manufacturing, it added.

This year, Shenzhen earned 20 new titles for the biggest market share for a single product or a specific manufacturing segment, for a total of 67. The city also took part in the construction of three national-level innovation centers for manufacturing, the same number as Beijing. 

Suzhou took second spot in the rankings. The city built the Yangtze River Delta Center, China’s first regional transformation hub for advanced technological achievement, and speeded up innovations in the artificial intelligence, biopharmaceutical, and semiconductor fields. At the end of last year, it had eight companies in China’s top 500 list and 11 manufacturing firms and 10 products with the largest market share in their sectors.

Shenzhen and Suzhou are the two cities with the highest investment levels in research and development and concentration of advanced manufacturing.

Third-ranked Guangzhou also has strong advantages in the concentration of advanced manufacturing, although its R&D spending gives the city a middle ranking.

By the end of last year, the top 100 Chinese cities for advanced manufacturing recorded a value-added industrial output of nearly CNY19 trillion (USD2.69 trillion), contributing more than 60 percent to the country’s total, up over CNY10 trillion from 2018. 

The report suggested that various cities should innovate by integrating and cultivating new development models and strengthening the creation of manufacturing clusters to accelerate the growth of their advanced manufacturing sectors.

The CCID Consulting’s 2022 Top 100 Advanced Manufacturing Cities Report looked at 293 prefecture-level cities across the country.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione