Transformers and robot export orders are booming! China's manufacturing competitiveness overseas continues to be prominently demonstrated.

Latest customs data released by the Customs: In the first two months of this year, China’s exports totaled $656.58 billion, up 21.8% year over year. Among them, electromechanical products such as transformers and robots have been especially impressive, with exports reaching $410.91 billion, setting a new high for the same period in any year, up 27.1% year over year. Behind the strong growth in exports of electromechanical products, what hard-core strengths are hidden?

At a transformer manufacturing company in Changzhou, Jiangsu, this transformer that is about to be exported to Brazil is about to complete a crucial pre-shipment procedure before leaving the factory—temperature-rise testing.

A customer from Brazil has placed an order for 5 transformers in total. At present, the company can only deliver 3; the remaining orders need to wait until June to be completed. Since last year, the company’s colleagues in international business have been in a global “flying mode.”

In 2025, the total value of export orders for China’s transformer enterprises reached a record 64.6 billion yuan, up nearly 36% from the previous year. The main reason is the huge power demand driven by the development of artificial intelligence.

Currently, the power load of an ultra-large AI data center has already exceeded 1 gigawatt (1GW), which is equivalent to the peak summer power demand of a mid-sized city. In addition, some countries and regions have reached the time to upgrade and replace transformer equipment. The combined effect has made overseas demand for transformers booming.

The transformers produced by this company are sold to more than 60 countries and regions worldwide. In 2026, as of now, foreign trade orders are up 20% year over year.

Changzhou, Jiangsu is known as the “world capital of transformers.” In the first two months of 2026, the city’s transformer export value exceeded 650 million yuan, up more than 70% year over year. Order growth is driving the entire industrial chain to speed up—production capacity at supporting enterprises such as transformer cooling fins and silicon steel sheet manufacturers is pushed to the limit.

China has built the world’s most complete transformer production system, with capacity accounting for about 60% of the global total. It has formed comprehensive advantages in raw materials, costs, production cycles, and other areas.

The AI boom sweeping across the world depends on computing power, and computing power relies on a steady supply of electricity for support. Chinese transformer companies have won an ongoing stream of international big orders thanks to their fast-response industrial chain, precisely matched innovative capabilities, and strong real-world strengths repeatedly honed through a large number of application scenarios at home.

As the world’s largest robot-producing country, in 2025 China’s industrial robot exports grew 48.7% year over year. Service robots, elderly-care robots, underwater robots, and more have flourished in multiple areas.

In a technology park in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, this company focuses on developing various service-type robots. In addition to cleaning robots, it also has multiple categories such as food-delivery robots and customer-attraction robots. As of the end of 2025, the cumulative shipment volume reached 120,000 units.

Engineers are fitting wheels onto four legs/feet of a quadruped robot dog, hoping it can move faster and more steadily across complex terrains such as sand and ravines. This robot dog consists of more than 30,000 parts, and it is still undergoing iterative upgrades. This year, it is expected to ship nearly 10,000 units.

At present, there are more than 74,000 enterprises in Shenzhen’s robot industry cluster. The total industrial output value exceeds 200 billion yuan. About half of the components can be assembled within 10 kilometers, and 80% of the components can find suppliers within a 40-kilometer radius.

Shenzhen has proposed accelerating the construction of a global AI pioneer city. The target is for the added value of the AI industry cluster in 2026 to grow by more than 10%.

According to Customs statistics: In the first two months of this year, the total value of China’s import and export of goods trade was 7.73 trillion yuan, up 18.3% year over year, with foreign trade achieving a strong start.

This wave of Chinese manufacturing going global allows us to see more clearly: reliability, value for money, and innovativeness are the solid hard skills that Chinese companies bring to battle through storms in overseas markets. We look forward to more Made in China and Created in China products being tempered into even tougher core real capabilities and more outstanding high-quality standards amid this global wave of going abroad—so that Chinese manufacturing and Chinese creation shine brightly on the world’s industrial stage.

Source: CCTV Finance

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