In November 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China issued the Work Plan for the Establishment of National Demonstration Zones for New Industrialization, aiming to establish about 50 such zones nationwide by 2030. This March, the first batch of 16 cities to establish national demonstration zones was announced, including Suzhou, Wuhan, Shenzhen and Chengdu, with Zhengzhou being named as the sole representative from Henan Province.
Getting onto the list is only the first milestone; the tougher challenge is to sustain growth while improving quality. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the value-added output of Zhengzhou's large-scale industrial enterprises has grown at an average annual rate of 9.4%, the fastest among all national central cities. In the first five months of this year, that figure rose 13.3% year on year, once again leading both the national central city group and the province.
More noteworthy is the structural shift. If traditional industries are the foundation of Zhengzhou's industry, then emerging industries are the driver.
Take the automotive sector as an example. Zhengzhou is home to seven complete-vehicle manufacturers, including Yutong Bus, Dongfeng Nissan, SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle and BYD, forming a full manufacturing landscape covering buses, passenger cars and new-energy vehicles.
In terms of computing power, Zhengzhou's operational computing capacity stands at roughly 68,000 P, and is expected to reach 78,000 P by year-end, the highest among provincial capitals in central and eastern China. The national core node of the Supercomputing Network went live on a trial basis in February this year, and China's first domestically made 100,000-card AI supercluster, the Sugon 8000 (Dengfeng), came into service in July.
The sensor industry represents another highlight. Zhengzhou's sensor output reached 80.993 million units in 2025. The city has gathered a cluster of listed firms such as Hanwei Electronics Group Corporation, SUNTRONT Technology, GLTECH, Henan Chicheng Electric Co., Ltd. and Henan Relations, and is building the "China (Zhengzhou) Smart Sensor Valley" with the Zhengzhou Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone at its core.
These new hallmarks are not mere embellishments; they constitute the major driving force of Zhengzhou's new industrialization drive. For new industrialization, the core is the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation.
Zhengzhou draws its strength from an annual output of 1.277 million complete vehicles and a computing capacity of 68,000 P. Transformed from a textile‑focused city into an automobile hub, and from a transportation hub into a computing‑power nerve center, Zhengzhou delivers tangible industrial transformation. It answers one critical question: what enables an inland city to earn its place on China's national manufacturing stage?
The answer is not to be found in official documents, but in the workshops, on the production lines, and in every new-energy vehicle made in Zhengzhou.
