Guangdong Pushes 2026 Drive to Link Manufacturing and Services, Targets Smart Industries
Guangdong launched a 2026 economic agenda that seeks tighter integration between its manufacturing base and expanding services sector, and that places artificial intelligence and digitalization at the center of the strategy. The plan matters because guangdong is tying concrete targets for industrial clusters and talent recruitment to a measurable push for smart industries and higher-value services.
Guangdong development details
The province unveiled the agenda at a High-Quality Development Conference on February 24, 2026, setting out a series of confirmed targets and policy priorities. Leaders made growing the real economy and accelerating the services sector’s shift toward higher value-added output a priority, and announced continued support for small and medium-sized enterprises, specialized manufacturers and innovation-driven firms — including the so-called "little giants" and single-product champions.
Officials signalled an ambition to cultivate large industrial clusters, explicitly aiming to foster trillion-yuan and 100-billion-yuan clusters through scaling traditional competitive industries, expanding emerging sectors and integrating industrial chains. Guangdong’s current scale and recent performance were cited in the agenda: the province’s regional GDP reached 14. 58 trillion yuan last year, a 3. 9 percent year-on-year increase, and it has maintained the nation’s top position for 37 consecutive years. Provincial planners set a longer-term growth marker of about 25. 8 trillion yuan in GDP by 2035.
Digitalization and artificial intelligence are designated as central drivers. the province will leverage extensive industrial clusters, large data resources and broad real-world application scenarios to push smart manufacturing, industrial internet platforms and integrated "manufacturing + services" solutions. Concrete steps include cultivating platform-based companies to connect supply chains, research institutions and service providers, and continuing a program to attract one million professionals to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to build technical, digital and cross-sector capabilities.
Context and escalation
The 2026 agenda builds on Guangdong’s established strengths as a manufacturing and services hub and escalates policy toward tighter cross-sector coordination. Provincial Party Secretary Huang Kunming framed coordinated development as essential in an increasingly digital and service-oriented global industrial landscape and urged entrepreneurs and practitioners to embrace the intelligent era. The provincial leadership presented coordinated development as a lever for multiplicative gains in manufacturing capacity and service efficiency, driving new productive forces.
Industry leaders responded with pledged investments and strategic shifts. Liang Hua, chairman of Huawei Technologies, said the company will increase R& D investment and expand computing-power offerings while building an open AI ecosystem centered on its Ascend AI chip series, as well as industry agent-enabling platforms to support partners’ intelligent transformation. Xu Yangtian, founder and chairman of Shein, cited the deep integration of manufacturing and services in shaping its global operations, highlighting cross-border e-commerce, data-driven demand insights, supply-chain responsiveness and a global service network as elements already binding manufacturing to services.
What makes this notable is the explicit linking of talent recruitment, platform-building and cluster-size goals — it signals a move from general policy direction toward measurable industrial engineering.
Immediate impact
The measures will directly affect manufacturers, service providers, and technology companies within the province’s industrial clusters. Small and medium-sized enterprises and specialized manufacturers have been singled out for continued support, which is intended to raise scale and quality. The policy emphasis on platform companies is designed to reshape supply-chain relationships by encouraging collaboration among suppliers, research bodies and service firms.
On a human-resources level, the one-million-professional attraction program is a concrete workforce action intended to supply the technical expertise and digital skills needed for cross-sector integration. The short-term consequence is likely to be heightened competition for talent and increased R& D activity among larger firms and leading service providers that are already expanding AI and digital offerings.
Forward outlook
Guangdong’s agenda ties immediate policy actions to milestones on a multi-year timeline. The province explicitly links its 2026 initiatives to preparations for China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), and sets a 2035 GDP target of about 25. 8 trillion yuan as a horizon goal. In the months and years ahead, confirmed milestones include rolling out measures to cultivate trillion-yuan and 100-billion-yuan clusters, accelerating the transformation of services for greater value-added output, and continuing the talent-attraction program focused on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Officials also intend to strengthen the international competitiveness of local firms by attracting foreign resources and supporting overseas expansion, and to promote the brands "Guangdong Manufacturing" and "Guangdong Services. " The scheduled emphasis on platform companies and AI-enabled industrial internet solutions provides a clear line to the next practical steps provincial agencies will take in aligning manufacturing scale with service sophistication.
