Traditional industries are an important component of China's national economy. Currently, the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries in China is no longer a multiple-choice question, but a necessary answer for survival and development. Adapting to the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries is not only an important measure to improve the resilience and safety level of industrial and supply chains, but also an inevitable requirement for promoting new industrialization and accelerating the construction of a strong manufacturing country. In the new situation, China can only consolidate and enhance its leading position in advantageous industries and overall industry competitiveness by adhering to the promotion of traditional industry transformation and upgrading, cultivating and strengthening emerging industries, and laying out and constructing future industries, and continuously win new advantages in international competition in the future.
    The new round of technological revolution overturns the traditional industrial development model. Currently, the breakthrough development of new generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things is profoundly changing traditional production methods. Intelligent manufacturing enables; Unmanned factory; It is possible that the industrial Internet can realize the whole process data collaboration, and the digital twin technology can greatly improve the efficiency of production and operation and maintenance. In particular, artificial intelligence has become a key variable affecting future development, and the practicality of large models represented by DeepSeek has achieved a qualitative breakthrough, which will greatly improve production efficiency; Becoming the core engine for reshaping traditional industries. The rapid progress of green and low-carbon technologies, as well as the continuous maturity of clean energy and circular economy technologies, forces traditional high energy consuming industries to undergo green transformation. Countries around the world spare no effort to strengthen their strategic layout of disruptive technologies, and the competition for global industrial technological innovation is becoming increasingly fierce. This not only puts forward higher requirements for the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, but also provides opportunities for the innovative development and overtaking of traditional industries.
    The deep adjustment of the global industrial pattern brings about transformation pressure. The production capacity of traditional industries is usually large and needs to rely on the global market to absorb it. At present, the deep restructuring of the global industrial pattern and the reform of international trade rules bring new challenges. New trade barriers such as carbon tariffs and digital taxes continue to emerge, and traditional export models are difficult to sustain. Some developed countries are accelerating; Reindustrialization; Promote the return of manufacturing industry, including chips, industrial software, key materials and other fields; Decoupling and chain breaking; Risk increases. India, Vietnam, Mexico and other countries in the global South actively undertake industrial transfer by leveraging their cost and market advantages. Although China's traditional industries are large in scale, they are still at the lower end of the value chain as a whole, facing developed countries; High end reflux; With developing countries; Mid to low end diversion; The dual pressure of transformation and upgrading urgently needs to reshape competitiveness and climb to the upper end of the value chain in the new round of global industrial division of labor.
    China has significant advantages in promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. At present, China's domestic effective demand is insufficient, and the risk of overcapacity in traditional industries is prominent. It is difficult to expand the scale by increasing investment, production materials, and labor force. But it should be noted that the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries in China has the scale advantage brought by super large industrial clusters and supply chain networks. A complete industrial system can enable traditional enterprises to achieve full chain collaborative transformation. We have the talent advantage brought by a high-quality talent team, with a large team of engineers and skilled workers providing manpower support for technology research and production optimization. We have the advantage of a super large domestic market and vast incremental space for demand upgrading, structural optimization, and kinetic energy conversion. The institutional advantage of concentrating efforts to accomplish major tasks can provide a stable macroeconomic environment for the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries through a combination of policies such as large-scale equipment updates and technological transformations, industrial technological innovation, industrial cluster cultivation, first (set) insurance, and precise fiscal and monetary policy support.

Translated from: https://www.miit-eidc.org.cn/art/2025/7/11/art_1539_11542.html