In 2025, as news of China’s breakthrough in lithography technology spread across the globe, a silent revolution was also quietly changing another key sector—CNC machine tools. As the “mother machine” of industry, the CNC machine tool sector has long been dominated by countries like Germany and Japan, who control the lifeline of high-end technology. Now, this formidable barrier is becoming the most difficult challenge for China’s manufacturing industry to overcome..
According to the latest statistics, the market size of high-precision CNC machine tools in China has reached a staggering US$59.2 billion. However, what is worrying is that as much as 45% of this market still relies on imports. This is especially true in key sectors such as aerospace and defense, where there are stringent requirements for equipment precision and reliability, where the proportion of imported equipment remains extremely high.
Looking back, China’s development in the field of CNC machine tools was not achieved overnight. As early as 1958, Qinghua University successfully developed China’s first CNC machine tool, marking a solid step forward for China in this field. However, for the next few decades, the domestic industry was on a long journey of catching up technologically. From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Chinese companies mainly improved their technological level by importing advanced foreign equipment and assimilating and absorbing its technologies. Despite this, significant gaps remained compared to international leaders in areas such as high-precision machining capabilities, equipment durability, and intelligentization.
The turning point came after 2010. To vigorously promote the development of China’s CNC machine tool industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology invested a huge sum of 28 billion yuan to support breakthroughs in key technologies. With policy support, domestically produced machine tools began to make breakthroughs in core technologies such as five-axis linkage and intelligent CNC systems.
In the first half of 2025, China’s machine tool exports reached US$13.18 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. This impressive figure fully reflects the growing recognition of domestically produced machine tools in the international market. At the International Machine Tool Exhibition held in Beijing that same year, an innovative technology called the AI Error Compensation System made its debut. This system can automatically detect and correct minute errors generated during machine tool operation, greatly reducing reliance on highly skilled operators and improving processing accuracy and efficiency.
Changes in the international situation have also had a profound impact on the development of China’s CNC machine tool industry. Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Western countries have continuously tightened export controls on high-end machine tools, particularly for key equipment such as five-axis machining centers and nanometer-precision machine tools, which have been strictly restricted from export to China. Against this backdrop, Chinese companies in the military, aerospace, and other fields have had to accelerate the process of domestic substitution to ensure self-reliance and control in key areas.
In August 2025, China achieved a breakthrough by launching a domestically produced commercial electron beam lithography machine, whose processing precision was comparable to international advanced levels. However, complete self-sufficiency in CNC machine tools is still considered the ultimate symbol of industrial self-reliance. Although China currently dominates the low-to-mid-end machine tool market, competition in the high-end sector always revolves around technological accumulation and supply chain collaboration. To completely break free from dependence on imported equipment, domestic enterprises need to achieve comprehensive breakthroughs in all aspects, including raw materials, precision manufacturing, and algorithm development.
Currently, the localization rate of CNC machine tools in China is steadily increasing at a rate of 3% per year. However, it is worth noting that in the field of ultra-precision machining, the market share of domestically produced equipment is still less than 20%. The future development of China’s CNC machine tool industry faces both challenges and tremendous opportunities. Only by continuously increasing investment in research and development and enhancing independent innovation capabilities can we truly master the core technologies of this “mother machine of industry” and lay a solid foundation for the take-off of China’s manufacturing industry.
