From humble beginnings to global leader: Chint Group's inexorable rise

Editor's note:

China is cultivating the development of new quality productive forces, referring to growth of higher quality driven by breakthrough innovations and comprehensive sustainability. Let's check out how businesses in Shanghai, which is base to many high-tech companies, fare on this route.

Credit: zhu shenshen / SHINE

Founded in 1984 with a modest 30,000 yuan (US$4,144) and a simple business for switches, Chint Group has transformed into a global leader in smart energy solutions. Today, the company boasts an annual income exceeding US$20 billion and 50,000 employees, and a modernized facility in Shanghai.

In its industrial base in Songjiang District, Chint showcases packing robots, intelligent electric appliance and low-carbon and green innovations, covering the full industry chain of "power generation, storage, transmission, transformation, distribution, sales and consumption."

Its business now covers more than 140 countries and regions, with over 50,000 employees worldwide.

In 2023, Chint's revenue reached 155 billion yuan (US$21.5 billion), a 25 percent growth year on year.

It has been listed among the top 500 Chinese enterprises for more than 20 consecutive years. Chint Electrics, its electrical appliances subsidiary, is one of the first A-share listed companies in China.

"We started our business in Wenzhou (Zhejiang Province) as a private startup. Now Chint is a global giant in energy industry, with Shanghai as regional headquarters for smart manufacture, research and development and internationalization," company executives said in Shanghai on Thursday.

Credit: zhu shenshen / SHINE

Chint's story exemplifies Shanghai's success in fostering a high-quality, innovation-driven economy. Its growth also reflects the city's deep integration with neighboring regions within the Yangtze Delta.

The facility is in the Yangtze River Delta's G60 Sci-Tech Corridor covering nine cities or towns. The regions, including Songjiang in Shanghai, issue co-develop plans on reform enhancement, market optimization and efficiency, enterprise service empowerment, and regulatory enforcement quality, to create a unique business environment for companies like Clint.

The tech corridor is now a nation-level science and innovation platform.

Up to now, with 1/24 of the country's population and 1/120 of the region's area, the nine cities along the G60 have contributed 1/15 of the country's GDP, 1/7 of the country's high-tech enterprises, and a fifth of the companies listed on the Shanghai STAR Market.