In the first half of 2026, China's exports demonstrated strong resilience amidst a complex external environment. In the first five months, the value of China's exports reached 9.62 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. In addition to the highly anticipated "New" (electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products), a category with higher technological density and broader industrial depth-transformers-is quietly completing its transformation from a "supporting role" a "leading role".
Behind every kilowatt-hour of electricity in daily life, transformers are silently operating. From intercontinental power transmission and renewable energy grid integration to factories, residential areas, even AI data centers, transformers are the vital nodes of the power system. Today, this critical sector is being profoundly reshaped by Chinese manufacturing. In the first four months of2026, China's total transformer export value reached 21.77 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27%, setting a new record for value.
In recent years, the aging of the European power grid has erupted into a concentrated crisis, prompting countries such as Germany, France, and Poland to successively launch largescale grid upgrade plans. Amidst the surge in demand, the domestic transformer production capacity in Europe and the United States is severely insufficient, with delivery cycles measured in years, whereas the delivery cycles of companies can typically be compressed to 6 to 9 months.
In recent years, the aging of the European power grid has erupted into a concentrated crisis, prompting countries such as Germany, France, and Poland to successively launch large-scale grid upgrade plans. Amidst the surge in demand, the domestic transformer production capacity in Europe and the United States is severely insufficient, with delivery cycles measured in years, whereas the delivery cycles of Chinese companies can typically be compressed to 6 to 9 months.
Currently, China has become the world's largest transformer producer, accounting for about 60% of global production capacity, and has established the world' most complete transformer production system. From the upstream smelting of copper and silicon steel to the processing of electromagnetic wires, core manufacturing, and insulation paperboard production, China has built the most global industrial chain. In the high-voltage field, the R&D technology of Chinese enterprises is at a leading position globally; next-generation technologies such as solid-state are also to move from the laboratory to engineering applications.
Intelligent transformation has provided solid support for delivery capabilities. Jiangsu Beichen Hubang Electric Power Co., Ltd. invested 150 million yuan to build "transformer digital factory," establishing a high-standard digital workshop for coil production and final assembly, and implementing a 5G smart factory to achieve visualized and automated production management. results are immediate: the product qualification rate jumped from 98.5% to 99.9%, and production costs were reduced by 15%, laying a solid foundation seizing both domestic and international markets.
"This is precisely the triple underlying logic of China's high-end manufacturing 'going global': technological maturity has crossed the critical threshold, the completeness of industrial chain builds a moat, and intelligent transformation releases efficiency dividends." Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute of Finance and Economics of Renmin University of China, told reporters
From an investment perspective, this also explains why the capital market's enthusiasm for the power equipment sector continued to rise in 2026. Cuixia, Chief Investment Advisor at Jufeng Investment, stated that the high growth rate of transformer exports reflects the global energy transition's deep dependence on China's highend manufacturing capabilities.
Transformers are the heart of "new infrastructure," yet they never stand in the spotlight. In the industrial map of "new infrastructure going global," transformers have always a low-profile yet indispensable presence. Their steel bodies, weighing dozens of tons, are crossing oceans to operate day and night in substations in foreign lands, silently serving the "going" journey of Chinese manufacturing.