Foshan is a rare city in the 1-trillion-yuan GDP club. Its major industry is manufacturing which accounts for nearly 60 percent of its economy. Since the reform and opening up, Foshan has gradually established a complete industrial system and has become an important manufacturing base across the province, the country and even globally. In 2019, the proportion of Foshan's primary, secondary and tertiary industries was 1.5:56.2:42.3. Advanced manufacturing of general products and specialized equipment account for 49.9% and 31.2% of the added value of Foshan’s above-scale industries respectively.

As the only pilot city for the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of manufacturing in China, Foshan's manufacturing industries are flourishing, whether they are traditional ones such as household appliances, furniture, ceramics, mechanical equipment, and metal processing or emerging ones such as optoelectronics, new materials, biopharmaceuticals, robots, and new energy vehicles. Currently, Foshan is taking the following measures to promote high-quality development of manufacturing and to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its core:

1. Accelerate the establishment of a technology innovation system that integrates enterprises and markets and focuses on industry-university-research cooperation. 

2. Accelerate the development of the following industrial clusters: two  1-trillion-yuan industrial clusters in equipment manufacturing and household items, two 500-billion-yuan industrial clusters in automobiles and new energy, military and civil integration, and electronic information, and four 300-billion-yuan industrial clusters in smart manufacturing equipment and robots, new materials, food and drink, biomedicine, and health. 

3. Grow a safe and reliable industrial chain, and improve the level of its modernization. 

4. Improve industrial planning, and close or upgrade village level industrial parks.

5.  Improve the quality of “Made in China” with a craftsmanship spirit. 

6. Create an environment conducive to the development of manufacturing.