At Maextro’s super factory – a brand co-developed by JAC Group and Huawei Technologies – Anhui province is making its pitch to become a champion of next-generation manufacturing. “One second here means 300,000 pieces of data captured, analyzed and fed back to improve quality,” said Wei Dawei, Director of the plant. “That’s 18 million insights every minute.” For Anhui, a landlocked province once better known for coal mines and farmland, a minute has become a powerful metaphor for manufacturing. It takes just 60 seconds for at least one vehicle to roll off an assembly line; for a robot to shuttle semiconductor wafers worth millions of yuan; and for millions of sunflower seeds to be processed and shipped to consumers around the world – demonstrating that the province’s rapid automation is not limited to manufactured products, but also applies to the processing of agricultural commodities.
In the first half of the year, Anhui produced 1.5 million vehicles, of which 730,000 were NEVs – both ranking first in the country. Auto giants like BYD, Chery and Nio operate there, but the local government has also promoted ambitious partnerships. The Maextro S800 is the flagship model produced at a joint venture of JAC and Huawei. Within 87 days of its launch, more than 12,000 vehicles have been sold. They are built entirely at the Hefei super factory, a CNY10 billion investment that combines over 1,800 robots with a 5G-enabled digital platform. It is also the first Anhui car to utilize Huawei’s intelligent driving system. Each step of its production process demonstrates Anhui’s shift toward new quality productive forces, a policy priority emphasized by the country to spur new economic growth. From one-piece hot stamping of ultra-strong steel to AI-powered dual-tone paintwork with sub-millimeter precision, the factory is designed not just for speed, but also for resilience in the luxury EV market long dominated by foreign firms. “The Maextro S800 is about breaking the monopoly,” Wei said. “For decades, million-yuan luxury cars came from abroad. Now we can do it here.”
If cars embody Anhui’s industrial muscle, robots show its technological finesse. At a cleanroom facility in Hefei, Youibot Robotics deploys autonomous mobile robots capable of handling fragile wafers just 0.2 millimeter thick. They are entrusted with carrying semiconductor wafers between production stages in fabrication plants run by China’s largest chipmakers. “In one minute, our robots can safely move a wafer that would cost over a million yuan to replace,” said Wu Shaoping, Youibot’s head of technology. “It’s precision and efficiency rolled into one.” The firm also makes inspection robots for power plants. One model, nicknamed “Big-Small Eye”, can run 12 checks per minute in high-risk substations, sparing workers from dangerous, repetitive labor.
These incremental minutes matter. China’s chip sector faces global headwinds, from U.S. export controls to rising competition. By automating wafer logistics and inspections, Anhui is embedding its robotics into the global semiconductor supply chain. “Every safe, precise movement of a robot here is another brick in the wall of China’s semiconductor security,” Wu said. Founded in 2017, Youibot applies autonomous mobile robots and integrated solutions across industrial logistics and inspection operations, building what it calls “stable, continuous and efficient productivity”. Its products serve sectors from semiconductors to lithium batteries, power plants and data centers. The company’s footprint is expanding rapidly. Globally, it has exported to more than 30 countries and regions including Japan, Germany, Italy and Singapore. Youibot’s global headquarters opened in Hefei in late 2024, with a 7,000-square-meter base that integrates R&D, intelligent manufacturing and an embodied intelligence innovation hub, the South China Morning Post reports.
The four-day 2025 World Manufacturing Convention (WMC) opened in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, on September 20, positioning the inland manufacturing hub as a window for global investment and industrial cooperation. Since its launch in 2018, the WMC has grown into one of China’s flagship international gatherings for industry. More than 40,000 guests from dozens of countries and regions have attended seven previous editions, leading to 4,326 signed projects worth CNY1.2 trillion. This year, the packed agenda includes supply chain matchmaking, forums on the digital transformation of manufacturing, cooperation meetings for small and medium-sized enterprises, and sessions on frontier industries such as artificial intelligence, the low-altitude economy and advanced photovoltaics. “The WMC has become an important bridge connecting Chinese manufacturing with the world,” said Chang Yejun, Deputy Secretary General of the Anhui provincial government, adding that this year’s convention would “deepen international exchanges and expand opportunities for cooperation in emerging sectors”.
Anhui’s economy grew 5.8% in 2024 to CNY5.06 trillion, with industrial output up 9% and exports up 7.4%. In the first half of 2025, exports surged 15.2% year-on-year, driven by automobiles and high-tech goods. Hefei is home to over a dozen national-level scientific facilities, ranging from quantum communication networks to experimental nuclear fusion reactors. The city has also become a hub for electric vehicles, semiconductors and robotics.
