After surpassing Germany for the first time, how did Chinese machine tools achieve the top position globally?

Groundbreaking news! 

China's machine tool exports have surpassed those of Germany and ranked first in the world. This is even more astonishing than the fact that China's electric vehicle exports have surpassed those of Japan and taken the top spot. Why is that? Because machine tools are the foundation of all industries. 

If you want to build cars, tanks, submarines or airplanes, you cannot do it without precision machine tools. Without machine tools, there would be no industry at all. Why is German industry so powerful? The key lies in the fact that it has the world's top machine tool industry. With these machine tools, it is possible to cultivate world-class car manufacturers such as Porsche, BBA, etc.

But no one expected that Germany's machine tool exports had actually been surpassed by China! How did China manage to do that? The team leader visited the "14th Five-Year Plan" achievements exhibition of Chinese manufacturing and discovered many interesting things. Among them, there were three major items that were particularly eye-catching! 

The first one is the Yueda M9. It was placed in a separate exhibition booth. The significance of this is self-evident. It was almost a turning point in China's automotive industry history. Before its emergence, there was no single Chinese car that could sell for over 500,000 yuan and still outperform the BBA brands. 

So far, the record of over 500,000 units sold and a monthly sales volume of more than 16,000 vehicles remains unbroken. When it comes to the high-endization of China's automotive industry, the Bawei M9 is undoubtedly a super representative model and also a benchmark for China's automotive industry.

The second one is the shield machine. The Tian Shan Shengli Tunnel was successfully completed, and for the first time, the Chinese people overcame all difficulties and broke through the Tian Shan, connecting the north and south of Xinjiang. In the history of mankind, these are all world-class engineering wonders. To break through this tunnel, Chinese engineers even came up with an ingenious idea of making the shield machine stand upright. Why stand it upright? Because the Tian Shan tunnel is too deep. 

If it is dug horizontally and continuously pushed inwards, the deeper it is dug, the thinner the air inside will become. Inside the tunnel, it is necessary to ensure the passage of vehicles and the supply of oxygen for personnel. However, Tianshan is a high-altitude area, and its oxygen content is only 70% of that in plain areas. To ensure as much safety as possible during the construction, Chinese engineers came up with the plan to make the shield machine "stand upright". 

One after another, these shafts are like atriums, bringing in fresh air and expelling the polluted air. Take the No. 2 shaft for example, its height reaches 707 meters, even higher than the Shanghai Center Building. However, this type of shaft construction, with segmented excavation, has also made the entire project safer. 

To build this tunnel, the key lies in China's top-level shield machine technology. You might not be able to imagine that China's market share of shield machines globally exceeds 70%. Even German shield machines have been set up factories in China.

For instance, India once intended to bypass China and introduce a batch of German shield machines. But what happened? It ended up going in a completely different direction. The factory of this German shield machine company is still located in China. 

The third type is CNC machine tools. Like traditional machine tool manufacturers, there are major companies such as Shenyang Machine Tool, Dalian Machine Tool, and Qinchuan Machine Tool. However, in the Chinese machine tool industry, there emerged a rising star - it is Gree! Gree does not focus on mid-to-low-end products. Instead, it immediately broke the monopoly of Germany and Japan and created the world's top "high-speed dual-five-axis gantry machining center".

After GREE started manufacturing air conditioners, why did it switch to manufacturing CNC machines? There are two main reasons: First, GREE has already become the world leader in air conditioner production. As a traditional manufacturing giant, it needs to continue to explore its core technologies and has thus ventured into the field of CNC machines. Second, it has entered the supply chain of new energy vehicles. 

Many people only noticed Dong Mingzhu's acquisition of Yonhan, thinking it was a scam. However, Gree's entry into the new energy vehicle supply chain has achieved great success. These top-level CNC machines are mainly supplied to automobile factories. 

In addition, Gree has built the first silicon carbide chip factory in Asia. This factory mainly produces power chips and not only supplies to home appliance manufacturers but has also successfully entered the automotive industry. Major car manufacturers such as Guangzhou Automobile, BYD, and Changan have all adopted the power chips manufactured by Gree. Moreover, chips for photovoltaic energy storage, charging stations, and logistics vehicles are also widely using Gree chips.

Gree is no longer just an air conditioner factory; it has evolved into a super manufacturing group that encompasses home appliances, machine tools, and chips. 

In fact, this was also forced upon them. Because air conditioners are no longer selling well, all major manufacturers are now focusing on developing core technologies. Even Internet companies like Xiaomi have begun to establish their own appliance factories and are now working on the "Xuanji O1" chip. What lies behind this is that China's manufacturing industry, in order to enhance its market competitiveness, has been forced to venture into more difficult technological blind spots. 

And then what? It's nuclear fusion, commercial aviation, large passenger aircraft, and AI, among others. Top-notch technologies are competing. In the past, people often asked why China couldn't produce pioneering technology companies like Microsoft, Apple, or Tesla? That was because the accumulation of underlying technologies was insufficient; it was relying on others' underlying technologies to build a business empire. 

But now? Chinese companies are also gradually venturing into uncharted territory. The technological explosion in the 15-16 decade will be even more intense than that in the 14-15 decade!