As the "Jianghai" shield tunneling machine roars through the underground rock strata of the Yangtze River, and the "Jinghua" precisely excavates in ultra-deep tunnels, these China-made "underground dragons" are rewriting the competitive landscape of global tunnel engineering equipment. From nothing to something, breaking monopolies, CRCC Heavy Industry has for consecutive years ranked first among the global top 5 tunnel engineering equipment manufacturers and 30th among the global top 50 construction machinery manufacturers, becoming a key force underpinning the world's underground infrastructure.

From subway tunnels to cross-border railways, from large hydropower projects in western China to Belt and Road infrastructure sites, CRCC Heavy Industry's products have become the "main force" of global underground engineering. With technological innovation, it has broken the long-term monopoly of foreign brands; with outstanding performance, it has won recognition in the global market. On its journey from catching up to leading, it is injecting strong "Chinese power" into tunnel engineering construction worldwide.

I. Breaking Monopolies: Independent Innovation Forges a National Treasure

In China's infrastructure sector in the early 21st century, shield tunneling machines, as key equipment for underground tunnel construction, had their technology and market almost completely monopolized by foreign brands.

At that time, imported shield machines were extremely expensive. For example, during the construction of Guangzhou Metro Line 2 in 2002, a single imported shield machine cost as much as 150 million yuan. Even more frustrating was that subsequent maintenance and repair of the shield machines were also controlled by others: foreign engineers charged by the hour for on-site service, with fees as high as 5,000 yuan per hour, while Chinese engineers were not even allowed to view equipment parameters, as core technologies were strictly blocked.

To reverse this passive situation, Chinese enterprises represented by CRCC Heavy Industry embarked on an arduous journey of independent innovation. In 2010, CRCC Heavy Industry successfully developed China's first domestic composite earth pressure balance shield machine, with a domestic content rate of 87%, marking a historic breakthrough for China in the field of tunnel construction equipment from nothing to something.

In 2010, the first domestic composite earth pressure balance shield machine independently developed by CRCC Heavy Industry—the "Kailu Xianfeng No. 19"—made its debut. The equipment achieved a domestic content rate of 87%, setting the highest record at the time for a shield machine with independent intellectual property rights in China. This major breakthrough forced foreign shield machines, which averaged 150 million yuan each, to cut prices by 30%.

Today, CRCC Heavy Industry's shield machines have for consecutive years occupied half of the domestic market, and the company continues to achieve breakthroughs in record-setting products: it has successfully created a series of national treasures, represented by "Jianghai," China's largest independently developed diameter shield machine; "Jinghua," China's first 16-meter-class ultra-large-diameter shield machine; "Jianghan Xinshiqi," China's largest-diameter open-type TBM; and "Dinghai" and "Yongzhou," the shield machines for the world's longest high-speed rail subsea tunnel.

Because of the efforts made, there are finally rewards. In a recent episode of CCTV2's "Dialogue" program, Zhao Hui, Chairman of CRCC Heavy Industry, said that ten years ago, components as small as shield machine cutters, seals, and motors all had to be imported. After continuous efforts to overcome difficulties and technological innovation, the "last mile" of bottleneck technologies has now been cleared, with independently developed shield machine main bearings achieving "full-machine domestic production."

After more than 10 years of development, domestic-brand shield machines have a market share of over 90% in the domestic market. Domestic underground engineering equipment enterprises represented by CRCC Heavy Industry have moved from following to leading in some technologies, and from supporting roles to main players in market share.

II. Product Diversification and Market Expansion

After mastering core shield machine technologies, CRCC Heavy Industry began extensive product diversification and market expansion. Today's CRCC Heavy Industry has expanded from a single shield machine product to a full series of product lines including TBMs, drill-and-blast tunnel equipment, mining equipment, and rail transit equipment.

Data provides the most powerful footnote: from January to June 2025, CRCC Heavy Industry's newly signed contracts and winning bids amounted to 7.727 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.15%, of which the tunnel boring machine business contributed 4.199 billion yuan, the special professional equipment business exceeded 1.173 billion yuan, and the rail transit equipment business reached 2.355 billion yuan, with the business structure continuing to optimize.

In terms of market expansion, CRCC Heavy Industry has moved from the domestic market to the global stage. Driven by its globalization strategy, CRCC Heavy Industry's overseas market development has achieved milestone breakthroughs. It has currently established 10 overseas regional business departments globally, covering more than 180 countries and regions. In 2024, CRCC Heavy Industry's overseas revenue exceeded 1.4 billion yuan; in 2025 this figure continued to rise, with overseas revenue in the first half of the year reaching 1.561 billion yuan, a year-on-year surge of 181.43%, accounting for 32.41% of main business revenue, a record high.

At present, CRCC Heavy Industry's overseas business has achieved sales of 34 products including boring machines, drill-and-blast construction equipment, mining equipment, rail system equipment, and high-end agricultural machinery. Its full series of products has entered 52 countries and regions worldwide, and its mainstay boring machine products have cumulatively broken into 28 countries and regions.

In the first half of the year, CRCC Heavy Industry successfully completed factory acceptance and product shipment of boring machine equipment for projects such as the Macau Light Rapid Transit, Singapore Metro Cross Island Line, Turkey's Babakaya water diversion tunnel, and Italy's Naples high-speed railway, fully demonstrating the company's efficient and reliable project delivery capability in the global engineering field. This achievement is due not only to CRCC Heavy Industry's differentiated competitive strategy of "localized technical services + overall solutions," but also confirms international recognition of its efficient delivery capability in the global engineering field.

III. Facing Challenges and Opportunities: How Will CRCC Heavy Industry Respond?

After achieving the leap from following to leading, China's shield machine industry now stands at a new development juncture. Although it has already captured a considerable global market share, it still faces bottlenecks that need to be broken in areas such as high-end core components, intelligent capabilities, and global competition.

Take the main bearings of shield machines with a diameter of over 12 meters as an example: their import cost accounts for 15% of the entire machine's cost, a proportion that reflects the severe reality of technological dependence. This shortcoming was highlighted in a 2025 overseas high-speed rail tender: Germany's Herrenknecht AG won the bid with a 15% premium by virtue of the real-time settlement prediction algorithm provided by its "cloud shield butler system," while Chinese equipment was not selected due to the lack of intelligent core components.

In the 2025 Southeast Asia rail transit tender, Chinese enterprises lost in the intelligent evaluation stage due to the lack of digital twin technology support; meanwhile, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in the Tokyo subway project, shortened the delivery cycle by 40% through a "dual-mode shield machine + localized assembly" model and won 80% of Southeast Asia's hard rock tunneling orders, making Chinese shield machine enterprises feel unprecedented competitive pressure.

Beyond the challenges, the industry also faces many development opportunities. For example, domestic policies such as the "large-scale hydropower development in the west" and "urban renewal" bring sustained demand for shield machines; the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative in overseas markets and the growing global emphasis on underground space development; and the trend of industrial upgrading, with replacement demand for intelligent and green equipment. Among these, large hydropower projects in the west, as "progressive projects," will continue to release demand for tunnel equipment in the coming years, and CRCC Heavy Industry, as a core equipment supplier, is expected to be among the first to capture this wave of policy dividends.

Facing industry challenges, CRCC Heavy Industry is seeking breakthroughs in both domestic and overseas markets through clear technology and market strategies.

1. Strengthen technological innovation and overcome bottleneck problems. CRCC Heavy Industry regards technological innovation as the core driving force for breaking through development bottlenecks. In the first half of 2025, the company's R&D investment intensity was 8.49%, with R&D personnel accounting for over 35%. It successfully created a batch of innovative products, including the world's first kilometer-class full-face hard rock shaft boring machine, the "Steel Backbone," and the world's largest-diameter (Ф12.68m) earth pressure balance-dual shield combined TBM.

2. Deepen the global layout and adhere to the "overseas priority" strategy. Rather than merely exporting products, CRCC Heavy Industry pays more attention to localized operations and service ecosystem development. In the first half of 2025, the company's overseas business achieved sales of 34 products including boring machines, drill-and-blast construction equipment, mining equipment, rail system equipment, and high-end agricultural machinery, with its full series of products entering 52 countries and regions worldwide. At the same time, the company systematically lays out overseas intellectual property, deeply participates in the formulation of international standards, and enhances the competitiveness and voice of overseas strategic emerging industries.

3. Boost the "Five New" businesses and cultivate new growth points. CRCC Heavy Industry has innovatively proposed the "Five New" business development strategy, covering five dimensions: new technology, new markets, new fields, new services, and new industries.

In terms of new technology, through measures such as design optimization, cost control, lean quality, green upgrading, and intelligent upgrading, the company realizes the iterative upgrading of its new-generation drill-and-blast tunnel construction equipment;

In terms of new markets, while deepening and refining the domestic regional market, it actively expands overseas sales networks and channels;

In terms of new fields, the company continues to broaden downstream applications of its products, for example achieving breakthrough sales of shield machines in new fields such as gas transmission pipelines;

In terms of new services, it builds a full-life-cycle service system and develops aftermarket businesses such as parts sales, on-site services, and remanufacturing;

In terms of new industries, it focuses on developing products that can fill domestic and global gaps, vigorously developing strategic emerging industries, and making efforts in areas such as intelligent manufacturing equipment and new energy equipment.

In the future, CRCC Heavy Industry will continue to use innovation as its engine and the market as its guide, deepen its global layout, strengthen technological barriers, expand digital and intelligent application scenarios, achieve sustained performance growth, contribute more "China Intelligent Manufacturing" strength to global infrastructure construction, and write a new chapter in the field of high-end equipment manufacturing.