2025 China Machine Tool Industry White Paper: Key Trends & Insights

Introduction

Machine tools, known as the “mother machines” of industry, are the foundation and core of manufacturing. With the transformation and upgrading of China’s manufacturing sector, the machine tool industry is undergoing profound changes. According to the latest “2025 China Machine Tool Industry White Paper” released by Wintelligence, the Chinese machine tool market faces unprecedented development opportunities amid growing demand for high-end products, elimination of low-end capacity, and increasing market concentration. This article will take you through the current status, trends, and future directions of China’s CNC machine tool industry.

1. Market Overview of the Machine Tool Industry

1.1 Market Size and Growth

In 2024, the overall market size of China’s machine tool industry reached 1,040.7 billion RMB. Although affected by economic downturn pressures, the decline trend has been alleviated under national policy support. The market is expected to maintain a moderate growth rate of about 3% in the coming years, with a projected market size of 1,153.7 billion RMB by 2027.
Notably, the industry shows a differentiated pattern internally:
Metal cutting machine tools: +6%, reaching 168.7 billion RMB
Metal forming machine tools: +4%, reaching 93.0 billion RMB
Abrasives and grinding tools: -15%, down to 450.2 billion RMB

1.2 Rapid Increase in CNC Penetration

The CNC (Computer Numerical Control) rate in China’s machine tool industry rose significantly from 30% in 2015 to 51% in 2024. According to the “Made in China 2025″ plan, the CNC rate for key processes is expected to reach 64% by 2025 and exceed 75% by 2027. This trend presents huge growth potential for CNC machine tool enterprises.

2. Industry Development Trends

2.1 Policy-Driven “Two Emphases and Two Innovations”

National policies strongly promote the development of the machine tool industry, mainly reflected in the “Two Emphases” and “Two Innovations”:
Two Emphases: Focus on major national strategies and projects, and key field security capability building
High-end CNC equipment manufacturing upgrade: Strategic industries such as aerospace, new energy, and semiconductors drive surging demand for high-precision, composite machine tools
Accelerated domestic substitution: More domestic high-end machine tools are adopted in “bottleneck” fields such as military and nuclear power
Two Innovations: Promote new quality productivity and new technology fields
Intelligentization and digitalization: Industrial Internet and AI + manufacturing push machine tools toward intelligent CNC systems and remote maintenance services
5G + Industrial Internet: Support machine tool networking and data collaboration, facilitating flexible production lines

2.2 Changes in Import and Export Patterns

From 2021 to 2024, China’s machine tool industry import value dropped from $13.8 billion to $10.2 billion (-26%), while export value increased from $9.3 billion to $12.1 billion (+30%), achieving a trade surplus for the first time. This reflects:
Improved competitiveness of domestic machine tools: CNC Five-axis simultaneous machine tools have been widely adopted in the aerospace supply chain
Accelerated import substitution: Economic downturn leads enterprises to choose more cost-effective domestic brands
Expansion of overseas markets: Policy support and technological progress jointly drive export growth

3. Downstream Application Market Analysis

Machine tools are mainly applied in the following industries:

Key Industry Insights:

Automotive Industry

In 2024, automobile sales reached 31.44 million units, with new energy vehicles accounting for 3.52 million (+38%). The trade-in policy covers over 95% of models, significantly boosting sales. Opportunities in the automotive sector for machine tools include:
New energy vehicles: High-precision CNC machine tools needed for battery casings, motor shafts, etc.
Traditional vehicles: Remanufacturing of parts promotes near-net-shape forming and green manufacturing transformation

Aerospace

Fixed asset investment in aerospace increased from 182 billion RMB in 2019 to 197.2 billion RMB in 2024. The “General Aviation Equipment Innovation Application Implementation Plan” aims to establish a high-end, intelligent general aviation industry model by 2030, continuously driving demand for high-end machine tools.

4. Automation and Intelligentization Trends

In 2024, the machine tool automation market size reached 22.1 billion RMB (+5%), with key segments:
CNC systems (15.1 billion RMB): Dominated by FANUC, Siemens; domestic localization rate only 2%
Servo systems (3.29 billion RMB): Led by Inovance, Yaskawa; domestic localization of about 45%
Frequency converters (1.19 billion RMB): Led by Inovance, Siemens; domestic localization 45%
Although high-end CNC still relies on imports, localization of servo and frequency converter products is close to 50%, reflecting rapid progress in China’s automation technology.

5. Future Outlook

High-indication is irreversible: Strategic industries such as aerospace and new energy will drive continuous growth in five-axis simultaneous and ultra-precision machine tools demand.
Accelerated domestic substitution: Policy support and technological breakthroughs will help domestic machine tools achieve greater breakthroughs in high-end fields.
Intelligent transformation: Industrial Internet and AI technologies will reshape machine tool products and service models.
Globalization layout: Leading enterprises will accelerate internationalization through overseas factories and acquisitions.

Conclusion

China’s machine tool industry is at a critical stage of transformation and upgrading, with challenges and opportunities coexisting. As a professional overseas marketing center, OTURN gathers numerous high-quality CNC machine and machining center suppliers, committed to providing efficient, precise, and reliable equipment solutions to global manufacturing enterprises. We uphold the values of “Professionalism, Focus, Efficiency, Simplicity, Excellence, and Altruism,” continuously promoting the internationalization of domestic machine tool brands, helping customers enhance manufacturing competitiveness, and jointly embracing the new era of intelligent manufacturing.

*The core data and analytical framework of this article are sourced from the “2025 China Machine Tool Industry White Paper – Sharing Edition” published by Wintelligence in April 2025.