At the shipbuilding dock of Hengli Heavy Industry on Changxing Island, Dalian. (Photo by Sun Pengwei, Zhongjing Visual) Recently, the Dalian Municipal Government Information Office in Liaoning Province held a press conference to release the city's economic performance data for 2025. According to the unified regional GDP accounting results of Liaoning Province: in 2025, Dalian's gross domestic product reached 1000.21 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.7% calculated at constant prices. Consequently, Dalian has become the first city in Northeast China with a GDP exceeding one trillion yuan. By sector, the added value of the primary industry was 66.54 billion yuan, up 3.6%; the secondary industry added 353.25 billion yuan, growing 7.7%; and the tertiary industry contributed 580.42 billion yuan, an increase of 4.8%. The transformation and upgrading of traditional industries like shipbuilding, breakthroughs in emerging sectors such as semiconductors, and the integrated development of culture, sports, tourism, and commerce have been the core drivers behind Dalian's GDP surpassing the trillion-yuan mark. However, Dalian still faces bottlenecks and shortcomings in its development that urgently need to be overcome to better propel high-quality economic growth.

Providing a Model for Transformation In early January, inside the locomotive plant of CRRC Dalian Co., Ltd. located in Lushunkou District, Dalian, multiple CN10A-C type new energy locomotives were undergoing final assembly and debugging, scheduled for delivery to the Shougang Group before the Spring Festival. "This is a 1000kW battery-powered locomotive capable of zero-emission operation, achieving a full charge and range in just 65 minutes. Compared to older diesel rail locomotives, each unit can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 362 tons annually and save about 734,800 yuan in fuel costs, achieving a dual enhancement of both economic and environmental benefits," said Yang Manpo, General Manager of the Non-Rail Business Division at CRRC Dalian Co., Ltd. The new breakthrough by CRRC Dalian is a vivid illustration of Dalian's high-quality economic development. Yu Miaojie, President of Liaoning University, believes that Dalian's GDP surpassing one trillion yuan sends an important message to the outside world – there is great hope for the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China's economy, and its future looks brighter. Dalian has become a leading force driving high-quality economic development in Northeast China and a window for its opening-up, demonstrating exemplary influence and strength. "Surpassing a trillion yuan in GDP marks Dalian's economic development ascending to a new level and entering a new stage," stated Zhou Xueren, Dean of the Northeast Comprehensive Revitalization Research Institute at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. He believes this sets a benchmark for the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China, provides a practical model for transformational development, boosts confidence in regional economic development, and injects strong momentum into the comprehensive revitalization of the Northeast. "This also strengthens the regional radiation hub function and activates the endogenous momentum for coordinated development. As an international shipping center in Northeast Asia, surpassing the trillion-yuan GDP threshold helps Dalian further deepen linkages with hinterland cities, construct an industrial cooperation network characterized by 'the coast driving the inland,' and thereby comprehensively elevate the overall capacity for opening-up in the Northeast region," Zhou Xueren added.

Upgrading Traditional Industries On January 6th, at Changxing Island in Dalian, six 82,000 deadweight ton bulk carriers built by Hengli Heavy Industry in its No. 3 dock were launched on the same day, marking a simultaneous construction and launch for bulk carriers of this tonnage. On December 22nd, 2025, the world's first methanol dual-fuel intelligent VLCC, the "Kaito"轮, built by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC) in Xigang District for China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. (601872), was successfully delivered four months ahead of the contractual schedule. This vessel boasts excellent comprehensive performance including strong navigability, good port adaptability, low emissions, and intelligent operation. Shipbuilding is a dominant traditional industry in Dalian. The city focuses on continuous breakthroughs in core areas such as high-end vessel construction and deep-sea equipment R&D, promoting the cluster-based and high-end development of the shipbuilding industry and facilitating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. It's not just shipbuilding; other high-end equipment manufacturing sectors are also undergoing transformation and upgrading. In early January this year, Dalian Heavy Industry Equipment Group secured its largest-ever engineering procurement construction (EPC) contract – the Morocco Phosphate Mine EPC project. This also marks the group's first international EPC project in the new field of mining, signifying its formal strategic transition from a "product supplier" to a "comprehensive solution provider." Dalian's push to build a regional financial center, with the precise infusion of financial resources and tax empowerment, also serves as crucial support for helping traditional industries, like "an old tree sprouting new buds." Reportedly, Bank of Communications Dalian Branch has provided credit support to over 20 shipbuilding enterprises including Hengli Heavy Industry and CSIC Dalian Shipbuilding, aiding the development of the ship and offshore equipment industry; Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. Dalian Branch has engaged in multiple collaborations with Hengli Heavy Industry, including project loans, working capital loans, advance payment guarantees, commercial acceptance bill discounting, letters of credit, and financial leasing; China Development Bank Dalian Branch has cumulatively disbursed 1.3 billion yuan in long-term loans to support Dalian Heavy Industry Equipment Group in focusing on areas like core wind power components and high-end bearing manufacturing, promoting high-end, intelligent, and green transformation and upgrading of projects, and achieving several world-first breakthroughs; The Third Tax Branch of the Dalian Municipal Taxation Bureau processed over 30 million yuan in VAT credit refunds for Dalian Airport Group, ensuring fast and direct access to preferential policies, supporting the steady progress of the Jinzhou Bay International Airport construction, and using high-quality, efficient tax services as a lever to fully escort enterprises on a stable and long-term path towards transformation, upgrading, technological innovation, and industrial enhancement. Although Dalian has achieved many highlights in transforming and upgrading traditional industries, it still faces numerous bottlenecks. Li Yan, a professor at the Shipping Economics and Management School of Dalian Maritime University, identifies these bottlenecks as including an unbalanced industrial structure with weaknesses in high value-added design and R&D segments; persistent "chokepoint" issues in core components and technological links; and weak supporting capabilities within the local industrial chain's upstream and downstream. "It is necessary to strengthen the high value-added industrial chain, focus on high value-added fields such as ship power systems and core design and R&D of precision equipment to promote technological upgrades in traditional industries; accelerate the攻克 of key core technologies and build a technology innovation system with enterprises as the main body, market-oriented, and deeply integrated with industry, academia, and research; improve the supporting capacity for key systems and equipment," suggested Li Yan.

Cultivating Emerging Industries Inside the Dalian Data Annotation Industrial Park located in the Dalian High-tech Zone, the office area of Dalian Hongtu Chuangzhan Digital Technology Co., Ltd. is a scene of bustling activity, with the technical team fully engaged in advancing autonomous driving data annotation work. As a leading enterprise in China's data annotation industry, Hongtu Chuangzhan has provided data annotation services to nearly 30 well-known domestic and international automotive companies and firms in the autonomous driving sector. "Raw data is like uncut jade, its potential value requires professional excavation. Data annotation involves adding various identification labels to raw data through manual or AI-assisted methods," said Wang Zhili, General Manager of Hongtu Chuangzhan. Hongtu Chuangzhan is a microcosm of the leap forward in Dalian's emerging and high-tech industries. As a representative emerging industry, Dalian's semiconductor sector already covers areas including chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, as well as related equipment, materials, and components. SK Hynix Semiconductor (Dalian) Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of specialized semiconductor equipment located in the Jinpu New Area, benefits from the "Zhihui Xin" (Intelligent and Beneficial Core) supervision and service initiative tailored to industry characteristics and needs by Jinpu Customs, a subsidiary of Dalian Customs. This initiative involves a package of innovative measures dubbed "Hui Liu, Hui Lian, Hui Lian" (Intelligent Flow, Intelligent Chain, Intelligent Link) to support high-quality development of the semiconductor industry. The Agricultural Bank of China Dalian Branch included the company's "Non-Volatile Memory" project in its leadership-supervised project list, implementing a "top leader leads the charge" approach for攻坚; it adhered to tri-level coordination (head office, branch, sub-branch) to promptly resolve marketing difficulties. This financial support measure has provided stable funding guarantees for the company's semiconductor R&D and capacity expansion, propelling the Dalian semiconductor industry chain towards higher-end and greater autonomy. "Dalian has its own advantages in developing the semiconductor industry, but the overall industrial scale is insufficient, and the scale of individual enterprises is also lacking; enterprises have insufficient capability for direct financing, with few being listed; and the R&D capacity of universities has not yet been fully utilized," noted Zhao Shuang, Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management (Tourism College) of Dalian University. To address this, Zhao Shuang recommends adhering to long-term planning to build distinctive industrial clusters; planning and laying the groundwork early to play a leading and driving role; and fostering multi-departmental coordination to create a favorable business environment, thereby promoting the in-depth development of the semiconductor industry. Beyond semiconductors and data annotation, Dalian is also gradually making efforts in fields like new materials and hydrogen energy. "We are focusing on cultivating and strengthening emerging industries. The new materials industry concentrates on key directions such as chemical new materials and advanced metal materials, strengthening technological innovation and成果转化. The hydrogen energy and new energy storage industry revolves around breakthroughs in core component technologies and market-oriented development,全面推进 multi-scenario demonstration applications," said Qu Donglin, Director of the Development and Reform Bureau of Dalian Jinpu New Area. Surpassing a trillion yuan in GDP marks Dalian standing at a new starting point for the revitalization of Northeast China and high-quality development. Looking ahead, Dalian will continue to base its development on the real economy, drive growth with scientific and technological innovation, continuously unleash the vitality of its open economy, and strive for excellence on the path of high-quality development.