China is now in a key period of adjusting and upgrading its industrial structure. The proportion of high-end manufacturing in the economy will go up a lot. This will drive strong growth in market demand for high-performance CNC machines. The domestic and international dual circulation development pattern and a unified domestic market have taken shape. They have further strengthened support for CNC machine breakthroughs. This support covers R&D systems, supply chains, policy services and user verification.
Looking ahead, new-generation IT will integrate deeply with manufacturing. Technologies like AI, the Internet, big data, cloud computing and 5G will keep advancing. These will push Chinese CNC machines to become smarter and more high-end quickly.
1.High-Performance CNC Machine Tool Industry: Upstream & Downstream Chain Analysis
（1）Upstream Industry Development
In high-performance CNC machines, structural parts (approximately 35% of total cost), control systems, and transmission systems (20%-25% each) are major cost components. While the upstream market is generally supply-demand balanced, mid-to-high-end components like control and transmission systems rely heavily on imports, restricting domestic industry development. Foreign leading enterprises integrate upstream components, CNC systems, complete machine manufacturing, and sales, holding advantages in product quality and scale—especially dominating high-tech fields like CNC systems and key components. Backed by sufficient R&D funds and technical accumulation, they lead in product iteration but suffer from high prices, long delivery cycles, and costly, delayed services.
（2）Downstream Industry Market Demand
- Aerospace Field:
Key components use difficult-to-machine materials (titanium alloys, heat-resistant steels, etc.), requiring high-performance CNC machines with high-speed, precision, composite, and multi-axis coordination capabilities. Extreme manufacturing equipment for heavy/super-heavy parts is also in demand.
- Industrial Machinery Field:
China’s machinery industry has stabilized after a growth trough. Per the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the added value of large-scale machinery enterprises rose 6.0% year-on-year in 2024, outpacing national industry by 0.2 percentage points.
2.Industry Technology Development Status
Five-axis linkage processing technology is the industry’s future direction. Key parts in ships, aircraft, rockets, and other products have special structures and high processing difficulties that traditional methods cannot meet—only five-axis linkage, high-speed, and high-precision CNC machines are viable.
With automotive lightweighting, multi-part components are integrated into single parts, shifting processing from planar to spatial. International leading automotive parts equipment suppliers (Grob, Mazak, DMG, etc.) have widely adopted five-axis machine tools in production lines, driving the technology’s promotion.