【AICC Original Article】Huainan: From Coal City to a City of Heavy Equipment

The equipment manufacturing industry is the "backbone" of industry and a key sector for resource‑based cities to achieve transformational breakthroughs. In 2025, Huainan delivered an impressive result: the output value of its equipment manufacturing industry rose by 40.2% year‑on‑year, with value‑added growth reaching 32.3%, ranking first in the province.

Behind this achievements is Huainan’s vivid practice of elevating the equipment manufacturing industry’s level by following a mainline of “chain‑style investment attraction to strengthen the foundation, cultivating excellence and reinforcing strengths to forge advantages, and agglomerating development to grow clusters.”

Projects are the vital source of growth for industry expansion. Huainan has targeted eight sub‑sectors with precision, mapping industry‑chain blueprints around areas such as coal‑machinery equipment and construction‑machinery equipment to clarify the focus of investment promotion. In 2025, the city introduced 102 high‑end equipment projects with a total investment of RMB 18.558 billion, injecting strong momentum into industrial development.

Enterprises are the main body of industrial development. Huainan has established a cultivation pool to promote excellence, strengthen capabilities, and support firms growth; among the 114 enterprises in this pool, 55 are in equipment manufacturing, and enterprise output value grew by 46% in 2025. The city’s equipment manufacturing sector currently hosts 19 provincial enterprise technology centers, 12 provincial industrial design centers, 82 provincial specialized and sophisticated SMEs that produce novel and unique products, and 10 "little giant" enterprises.

Industrial parks are the main battleground and stronghold for economic development. Huainan focuses on leading industry sub‑tracks to build advantageous and distinctive industrial chains, continuously enhancing industrial agglomeration and competitiveness.

In segmented fields, coal‑machinery equipment has formed six complete industry chains covering coal mining and excavation, support, hoisting and transportation, rescue and safety, and electromechanical control; products such as Triumph Heavy Industry’s roadheaders and Wantai Electronics’ permanent‑magnet motors are domestically competitive. In construction machinery, Tangxing Machinery’s 6–7 meter ultra‑large‑diameter earth‑pressure‑balanced pipe jacking machine holds a 35% share of the domestic market, ranking third, and the “Kaisheng No.1” shield tunneling machine filled a provincial gap. In intelligent equipment, with a breakthrough in mine intelligence, the city actively promotes large‑scale applications in mining enterprises of mining robots, intelligent monitoring devices, and automated control systems.

From being dominated by coal and power to being supported by multiple industries, and from a traditional industrial‑mining base to a highland of high‑end equipment manufacturing, Huainan is taking solid steps in its resource‑city transformation driven by robust growth in equipment manufacturing.

Transformation is not achieved in a day; only by building momentum can one proceed steadily and far. During the 15th Five‑Year period, Huainan will continue to target high‑end, intelligent, and green development, deepen efforts in the eight sub‑sectors, strengthen “chain‑style investment attraction,” optimize “staged cultivation,” and refine “clustered development,” striving to build a highland of equipment manufacturing. From a coal city to a city of heavy equipment, Huainan’s path is widening.

Source: anhuinews.com