Made in China 2025 -- State Council Notice Guofa [2015] No. 28

Executive Summary

"Made in China 2025" (MIC 2025) was officially issued by the State Council on May 8, 2015 (Guofa [2015] No. 28), serving as the first ten-year action plan for China's manufacturing power strategy. The document was released against the backdrop of profound global manufacturing restructuring and the accelerating convergence of a new round of technological revolution with industrial transformation, aiming to transition China's manufacturing sector from "large but not strong" to a true manufacturing powerhouse.

The document opens by asserting that manufacturing is the foundation of the national economy -- "the basis for national establishment, the instrument for national prosperity, and the bedrock of national strength." While China had built a comprehensive, independent industrial system and achieved the world's largest manufacturing scale, significant gaps remained compared to advanced countries in areas such as indigenous innovation capability, resource utilization efficiency, industrial structure, informatization levels, and quality outcomes. The plan proposes a "three-step" strategy to achieve manufacturing power status: Step 1 by 2025 -- enter the ranks of manufacturing powers; Step 2 by 2035 -- reach the middle tier of world manufacturing powers; Step 3 by the centenary of the People's Republic (2049) -- enter the front ranks of world manufacturing powers.

The document establishes five guiding principles -- innovation-driven development, quality first, green development, structural optimization, and talent-centered approach -- and deploys comprehensive measures across nine strategic tasks and ten priority sectors. Notably, the next-generation information technology industry (including integrated circuits and specialized equipment) is listed as the first of the ten priority sectors, underscoring the central role of IT hardware and semiconductors in the national manufacturing upgrade strategy.

Key Provisions

Integrated circuit and specialized equipment development: Focused on elevating IC design capabilities, breaking through core general-purpose chips, and enhancing domestic chip application compatibility. Mastery of high-density packaging and 3D micro-assembly technologies, with the formation of key manufacturing equipment supply capabilities.
Information and communications equipment breakthroughs: Comprehensive breakthroughs in 5G technology, core routing and switching, ultra-high-speed intelligent optical transmission, "future network" core technologies, with active promotion of quantum computing and neural network development. R&D of high-end servers, large-capacity storage, next-generation routing switches, and network security equipment.
Industrial foundation strengthening ("Four Basics" initiative): Addressing four weak links -- core basic components, advanced basic processes, key basic materials, and industrial technology foundations. Target of 70% self-sufficiency in core basic components and key basic materials by 2025.
Intelligent manufacturing as the primary direction: Accelerating development of smart manufacturing equipment and products, advancing intelligent manufacturing processes. By 2025, key manufacturing sectors to achieve full intelligentization, with operating costs, production cycles, and defect rates each reduced by 50%.
Green manufacturing system construction: By 2025, manufacturing green development and unit consumption of major products to reach world-advanced levels, with a green manufacturing system essentially established.
Comprehensive quality and brand building: Promoting Six Sigma, lean production, and other advanced management models. Accelerating improvement of product quality and reliability, advancing the internationalization of Chinese manufacturing brands.

Goals and Timelines

Indicator	2013	2020 Target	2025 Target
Manufacturing R&D expenditure ratio	0.88%	1.26%	1.68%
Effective invention patents per 100 mln RMB revenue	0.36	0.70	1.10
Manufacturing quality competitiveness index	83.1	84.5	85.5
Digital R&D design tool penetration rate	52%	72%	84%
Key process CNC rate	27%	50%	64%
Unit energy consumption reduction	--	18% below 2015	34% below 2015

"Three-Step" Strategy Timeline:

2020: Basically achieve industrialization, master key technologies in priority areas
2025: Substantially upgrade manufacturing quality, enter manufacturing power ranks
2035: Reach the middle tier of world manufacturing powers
2049: Comprehensive strength enters the front ranks of world manufacturing powers

Implementation Mechanisms

Organizational structure: Establishment of the National Manufacturing Power Construction Leading Group (chaired by a State Council leader), with its office in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. A Strategic Advisory Committee was set up to study forward-looking, strategic issues.

Fiscal and financial support: Leveraging the advantages of policy-based, development, and commercial finance to increase support for priority areas. Promoting the regulated development of regional equity markets and guiding venture capital and private equity to support manufacturing innovation. Using PPP models to attract social capital.

Tax policies: Implementing tax policies favorable to manufacturing transformation, advancing VAT reform, improving R&D expense super-deduction methods, and reducing the tax burden on manufacturing enterprises. Implementing incentive policies for first-set major technical equipment.

Talent cultivation: Implementing manufacturing talent development plans, building engineering innovation training centers, and piloting modern apprenticeship systems. Increasing efforts to attract top talent and urgently needed specialists to the manufacturing sector.

International cooperation: Guiding foreign investment toward high-end manufacturing, supporting overseas M&A and venture capital by domestic enterprises. Active participation in Belt and Road industrial cooperation, facilitating the transfer of competitive production capacity overseas.

Industry Impact

MIC 2025 had a profound impact on the global manufacturing landscape. Domestically, the document significantly boosted investment and development in high-end manufacturing sectors including semiconductors, communications equipment, robotics, and new energy vehicles. The integrated circuit industry received unprecedented policy support and capital investment, with accompanying measures like the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund ("Big Fund") accelerating development across the value chain.

Internationally, the plan drew intense scrutiny from major trading partners. The United States and European Union in particular viewed it as a landmark Chinese industrial policy challenging the existing international competitive order. This became part of the policy backdrop for the technology restriction measures that emerged during the subsequent US-China trade friction.

The impact on the IT hardware industry has been particularly significant. MIC 2025 propelled the rapid development of domestic servers, storage equipment, and networking devices, and accelerated the formation of the Xinchuang (IT Application Innovation) industrial system. Through its emphasis on autonomous, controllable, secure, and reliable software and hardware, the plan created substantial market space for domestic IT hardware.

Amendment History

Since its issuance in May 2015, MIC 2025 has not undergone formal revision as a programmatic document. However, the Chinese government has refined and supplemented its content through a series of supporting policies and implementation plans in subsequent years, including the "14th Five-Year Plan for Intelligent Manufacturing Development" and the "14th Five-Year Plan for Digital Economy Development." Notably, due to the international controversy the plan generated, official Chinese references to the document have diminished in subsequent communications, though its core policy directions and objectives remain unchanged.