President Xi Jinping’s visit to a laser equipment maker highlights government’s continued focus on tech self-sufficiency
- Xi visited the company’s manufacturing lines for laser cutting equipment, used in the semiconductor, consumer electronics and autos industries
- Wuhan Huagong Laser Engineering traces its origins to the time of the Cultural Revolution in 1971
A visit this week by President Xi Jinping to a laser cutting machine maker in Wuhan reflects the importance the Chinese leadership places on such advanced technologies to update the country’s vast manufacturing sector, analysts said.
Wuhan Huagong Laser Engineering, a subsidiary of Shenzhen-listed HGTECH Group, was the only tech company Xi visited during his tour of Wuhan, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xi visited the company’s manufacturing lines for laser cutting equipment, which is used in the semiconductor, consumer electronics and automobile industries, and encouraged the company to make breakthroughs and take the lead in this sector, Xinhua reported.
China must strengthen its research and development of these technologies, use more domestic substitutes to replace foreign products, and acquire the core technologies to transform and upgrade the manufacturing sector, Xi said to a manager of the company, according to Xinhua.
Wuhan Huagong Laser Engineering traces its origins to the time of the Cultural Revolution in 1971, when China implemented a command-and-control economy amid international isolation. The state-run laboratories and research centres at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) were later restructured into a commercial entity in 1997 as China embraced market reforms to commercialise technologies.
The company sells laser cutting equipment to some of China’s largest manufacturers, including heavy equipment manufacturer SANY China and SAIC Motor, according to its website.
Its parent company, HGTECH Group, acquired Australian laser cutting equipment provider Farley Laserlab in the early 2000s and took over its worldwide marketing network. This helped the company to sell products to over 30 countries, according to a post on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s website.
The company’s international ambition received a setback in December 2020 though when two labs at HUST, then its ultimate owner, together with another 18 Chinese universities, were added to a trade blacklist by the US commerce department for alleged involvement in activities seen as a threat to US national security.
The sanctions severed its access to advanced US-origin technology. HGTECH went through a restructuring in March 2021 with the Wuhan State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission replacing HUST to become the company’s ultimate owner.
China has an uphill struggle to gain greater self-sufficiency in many advanced technologies. A recent research note by Wang Zhijie from Great Wall Securities states that China’s home-grown tools for intelligent manufacturing are still inadequate.
“Medium and low-power lasers are relatively sufficient, but the more advanced high-power lasers and intelligent sensors still heavily rely on imports,” Wang noted.
Xi’s tour on Tuesday was the second time within a month that the top leader has visited domestic companies and urged them to tackle technology bottlenecks. On June 8, Xi visited XGimi, a projector and laser TV maker firm based in western Sichuan province. It has beaten off Western projector brands such as Epson and Sony to become the top seller in China for the past four years, according to a local media report.
