President Xi Jinping’s visit to a laser equipment maker highlights government’s continued focus on tech self-sufficiency

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.