On June 29, the 2026 "Vibrant China Research Tour" Guangdong leg of the themed interview activity was launched in Guangzhou. More than 100 journalists from over 20 central and local news organizations spent a week going deep into production workshops, laboratories, and fields to explore firsthand how Guangdong drives industrial development through technological innovation.

A chip, a capacitor, a bunch of tomatoes, a soybean—these seemingly ordinary things contain the most vibrant pulse of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area's economy.

From 0 to 1: Breaking Down Barriers in Emerging Industries

The lack of chips and displays was once an unavoidable pain point for the development of Guangdong's industries. As the largest province in the country in the electronic information manufacturing industry, Guangdong boasts trillion-yuan-level industrial clusters such as next-generation electronic information, smart home appliances, and automobile industry clusters. Its annual chip demand ranks among the top in the country, but it once faced the dilemma of "having a market but lacking manufacturing".

At the end of 2017, Guangdong Chip Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. settled in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, becoming the first 12-inch wafer manufacturing company in Guangdong to enter mass production. In just 18 months, from laying the first pile to starting production, it achieved "Guangzhou speed." Today, Guangdong Chip Semiconductor has a monthly 12-inch wafer production capacity of over 60,000 wafers, has accumulated 712 authorized patents (including overseas patents), and has attracted nearly 150 upstream and downstream companies to settle in Guangzhou. One wafer fab has "chained" an entire industrial ecosystem.

Guangdong Chip Semiconductor chip product display.

In Zhaoqing, not far from Guangzhou, the story of Guangdong Fenghua Advanced Technology Co., Ltd. began in 1984—from a small factory assembling radios from supplied materials to a leading domestic manufacturer of passive electronic components 42 years later, specializing in MLCCs (multilayer ceramic chip capacitors). This fundamental component, often referred to as the "rice of the electronics industry," is indispensable in everything from mobile phones to new energy vehicles. Dr. Cao Xiuhua, Vice President of Fenghua Advanced Technology, used an analogy: "When a circuit board is running, the area around the chip is densely packed with MLCCs, just like rice is essential to a person." The manufacturing precision and complexity of high-end MLCCs are comparable to 14nm chip production lines. Fenghua Advanced Technology has overcome core technologies such as 0.5μm ultra-thin film casting and 1000-layer precision stacking, breaking the foreign monopoly.

If chips are the "brain" of the digital world, then radio frequency (RF) filter chips are the "nerve endings" connecting the physical and digital worlds. Guangzhou Aifo Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. is the third company globally and the only one in China to master the core technology of BAW filter chips with independent intellectual property rights and operate under an IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) model. Starting from the source materials, it has invested over 3 billion yuan in R&D, achieving full-chain self-reliance and control. Its SABAR® chip's key performance indicators surpass those of similar international products by more than 20%, and it has been applied to major national projects such as the lunar exploration program and phased array radar.

In Zhuhai, Guangdong Nare Radar Technology Co., Ltd.'s breakthrough also began with a moment of determination. In 2013, when Bao Xiaojun returned to China, he discovered that many sectors in the country were still relying on outdated radar equipment from the United States, dating back 20 years. "From the very beginning, we set a bottom line—core technologies cannot be controlled by others." He decided to return to China to start his own business and tackle original technological challenges from scratch. Today, Nare Radar's fully polarized active phased array radar has filled a domestic gap and has built the world's first ultra-fine dual-polarized phased array radar weather observation network in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In Zhongshan, the story of Akeso Biopharma showcases China's original strength in biopharmaceuticals to the world. When Zhongshan Akeso Biopharma Co., Ltd. was founded in 2012, China's pharmaceutical industry was still dominated by generic drugs, with original antibody drugs firmly controlled by multinational giants. The Akeso team saw another window of opportunity—"the gap on emerging technology platforms such as bispecific antibodies is only 10 meters." This judgment has been repeatedly validated: in 2015, they licensed their original antibody drug to Merck; in 2022, the world's first tumor immunotherapy bispecific antibody drug was approved for marketing; and in 2024, their new drug outperformed the "king of drugs," pembrolizumab, in a clinical trial. The Wall Street Journal called them "the DeepSeek of biopharmaceuticals."

A researcher at Akeso Biopharma is at work.

These companies come from diverse industries, yet their paths are strikingly similar—they don't follow the crowd or take shortcuts, but instead make long-term investments in fundamental technologies. This is the core characteristic of Guangdong's emerging industries.

From 1 to N: Revitalizing Traditional Industries

If emerging industries are all about achieving a breakthrough "from 0 to 1," then traditional industries face a different question: once an industry is mature enough, how can it redefine itself using new technologies?

Foshan Haitian Seasoning Food Co., Ltd.'s answer is: turning the experience of veteran craftsmen into algorithms. Stepping into Haitian's Gaoming factory—the world's first "lighthouse factory" in the soy sauce brewing industry—AI is taking over traditional processes. In the soybean selection stage, an AI vision system analyzes each soybean individually, screening 2.5 trillion soybeans annually; in the koji-making stage, a 20-meter diameter disc device is filled with sensors, automatically adjusting temperature and humidity; in the quality control stage, an "AI electronic nose" can capture over a hundred aroma components in the soy sauce, completing the rating in minutes. This "AI journey" of a single soybean has enabled this time-honored brand to achieve unprecedented speed.

Jiangmen Daye Motorcycles showcases another path. One out of every five motorcycles exported nationwide comes from Jiangmen, with Guangdong Daye Motorcycle Technology Co., Ltd. being a major player. 90% of their products are sold overseas, covering more than 70 countries and regions. "In the early days, we had to go out and find customers; now, foreign customers are actively seeking us out," said Xie Sheng, Director and General Manager of Daye Motorcycles. The company has over 1,000 R&D personnel, and everything from parts to production lines is designed in-house. "Making the world's best motorcycles designed and manufactured by Chinese people"—this is not just a slogan in Jiangmen.

A motorcycle test driver from Daye demonstrates the vehicle's performance.

The story of Yizumi Co., Ltd., located in Shunde, Foshan, is a tale of a remarkable turnaround for an equipment manufacturing company. In 2002, when a group of tech entrepreneurs created their first injection molding machine, they faced a market long dominated by foreign brands. Twenty-four years later, their injection molding and die-casting equipment has entered the ranks of the world's top companies. Two years ago, Yizumi also equipped itself with an "intelligent brain." Last year, they launched the world's first AI die-casting machine, which can automatically identify product defects and adjust process parameters in real time, increasing the yield rate from 60%-70% to 80%-90%. This May, Yizumi released the industry's first "Intelligent Manufacturing Hierarchical Roadmap." "There are fewer and fewer experienced workers, and young people are unwilling to go to the front lines. What can we do?" said Zhou Jun, Chief Technology Officer of Yizumi. "Our solution is to let data replace experience."

Yizumi electric vehicle model and component projection demonstration.

TCL Industrial Holdings Co., Ltd. in Huizhou has applied AI to an unexpected area—packaging. TV boxes come in various sizes, and manual container stacking takes at least 30 minutes; the global average container loading rate is only 80%–85% year-round. "One in every five containers is carrying air." TCL digitized hundreds of rules, including customs requirements and weight limits, and used AI to repeatedly simulate scenarios in virtual space, providing the optimal solution in just a few seconds—saving tens of thousands of container shipments annually. This new solution to an "old problem" has enabled TCL to achieve global TV sales exceeding 30 million units by 2025.

Crete Cloud Technology (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. and Dongguan Modebao Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. represent Dongguan enterprises' ultimate pursuit of "lightness" and "precision," respectively. Crete's AI glasses weigh only 16.9 grams, with each temple lighter than a one-yuan coin. In 2025, global AI glasses shipments reached 8.7 million units, with Dongguan enterprises shipping over 4 million units, accounting for nearly 50% of the global market. "A brand wanting to launch an AI glasses product can achieve the entire process from design to finished product without leaving the city," says Modebao. Modebao's mold precision reaches 0.002 millimeters—one-thirtieth the diameter of a human hair—with an automation rate of 90% and a 30% reduction in production lead time. "We hope to transform manufacturing into intellectual labor, encouraging more young people to dedicate themselves to manufacturing," says Zhu Jianwei, Business Director of Modebao.

Agriculture is also undergoing a transformation. In the Zhuhai Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Modern Agricultural Demonstration Park, the output value of cluster-harvested tomatoes is 10 to 15 times higher than that of traditional facility agriculture. The park's self-developed G-Lab system platform boasts a domestic production rate of over 95%, giving intelligent greenhouses a "Chinese core." Guangzhou XAG Technology Co., Ltd.'s agricultural drones have already flown to 70 countries and regions, and its revenue is expected to exceed 1.1 billion yuan by 2025. Traditional agriculture is being redefined.

 Agricultural workers prune tomatoes in the intelligent greenhouse of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Modern Agricultural Demonstration Park.

From individual points to a broader scale: A thriving innovation ecosystem.

A breakthrough by an individual enterprise is a "point," the improvement of the industrial chain is a "line," but the systematic investment in innovation by a city or region is the "surface" and "ecosystem."

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) offers a unique perspective. This landmark achievement of in-depth cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong following the implementation of the Nansha Plan has completely broken down the traditional university structure—absent from colleges and departments, replaced by four major "hubs" spanning cutting-edge fields such as AI, intelligent manufacturing, fintech, and semiconductors. Undergraduates do not choose a major for the first two years, and all university laboratories are open to them. More than 300 undergraduates have already launched over 400 independent research projects. "Faculty members only provide directional guidance; the students have the initiative in designing their research projects," said President Ni Mingxuan.

An aerial view of the HKUST (Guangzhou) campus.

If the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) represents institutional innovation in education, then the International Headquarters of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Technology Innovation Center is another piece of the puzzle in terms of technology transfer. This platform, jointly built by Guangdong Province, Shenzhen City, and Tsinghua University, is located in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone in the Hetao area. Focusing on fields such as biomedicine, high-performance materials, and artificial intelligence, it leverages "organized research" and "organized technology transfer" to connect international innovation resources with leading enterprises, serving as a crucial hub for international science and technology cooperation in the Greater Bay Area.

An innovative ecosystem also needs a supporting environment. The "Eye of the Bay Area" in Qianhai, Shenzhen—the world's largest physical bookstore—opened in September 2025 and has received over 5.5 million visitors as of April this year. This 66,000-square-meter cultural complex integrates a 3D printing flagship store, an immersive "Three-Body Problem" space, and other technological elements, making innovation tangible and relatable through a "culture + technology" approach.

The foundation of an innovative ecosystem lies in the institutional supply of long-termism. Wu Shiwen, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, revealed at the research launch meeting that Guangdong has planned and is constructing 10 national major science and technology infrastructure projects, including the China Spallation Neutron Source, the High Intensity Heavy Ion Accelerator, and the Human Cell Lineage, and a world-class cluster of major science and technology infrastructure projects has begun to emerge.

The province boasts 74,000 high-tech enterprises and 56,000 technology-based SMEs. By 2025, the added value of Guangdong's large-scale advanced manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing industries will account for 56.2% and 34.7% of the total industrial output above designated size, respectively. Behind these figures lies an emerging innovation methodology: using industrial demand to drive technological innovation, and using institutional innovation to dissolve barriers to transformation, allowing talent and cities in the Greater Bay Area to mutually benefit each other. The Greater Bay Area's "new driving force" lies in these concrete and subtle details. Navigating economic cycles relies not on luck, but on continuous investment in innovation, a complete industrial ecosystem, and the patience and determination of each city to embrace "long-termism." (Original source: Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Portal)

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