Yantai, Shandong Province's earliest port city opened to foreign trade, began its opening 30 years earlier than Qingdao, with the genes of openness deeply embedded in its urban development. "Born from the sea, thriving through ports." Once famous for apples, Yantai has continuously driven economic transformation. In 2023, its GDP exceeded one trillion yuan, making it the first and only ordinary prefecture-level city in northern China to join the "trillion-yuan club," achieving a leap from "major agricultural city" to "industrial powerhouse" and then to "economic powerhouse." After entering the ranks of "trillion-yuan strong cities," how will this rising northern city break through again?
What Yantai Did Right
Among the 26 trillion-yuan GDP cities nationwide, 19 are in the south and only 7 in the north, most of which are cities with high administrative levels. Yantai's entry into the "trillion-yuan club" as an ordinary prefecture-level city carries significance far beyond the economic data itself—it breaks the stereotype that "northern development depends on administrative hierarchy," proving that through industry and innovation, ordinary prefecture-level cities can also achieve leapfrog development, providing a new pathway for the north.
After Yantai's advancement, Shandong's economic pattern evolved from the "dual-core drive" of Jinan and Qingdao to "three-core leadership," becoming the only province in northern China with three trillion-yuan cities. The "Jinan-Qingdao-Yantai" trillion-yuan city matrix has taken shape, strengthening the multi-point support development pattern and injecting new momentum into the transformation of old and new driving forces.
As one of the birthplaces of modern Chinese industry and among the first batch of coastal open cities, Yantai has deep industrial foundations and distinct openness genes, having grown into a comprehensive northern manufacturing powerhouse. However, Yantai also faced challenges of high proportions of traditional industries and insufficient new momentum. Through steadfast promotion of new and old driving force transformation, Yantai achieved breakthroughs in emerging industries "from zero to one"—advanced structural materials and biomedicine were selected as national-level emerging industry clusters, rapidly growing into new engines for high-quality development.
Over the past year, Yantai has accelerated the implementation of major projects: the Yulong Island refining and petrochemical integration project (Phase I, investment of 116.8 billion yuan) generated revenue exceeding 13 billion yuan within three months of production, emerging as a new hundred-billion-level enterprise; Wanhua New Materials Low-Carbon Industrial Park (Phase I, investment of 126 billion yuan) and Weichai-BYD New Energy Power Industrial Park (Phase I, investment of 56 billion yuan) were completed and put into operation, Wanhua Ethylene Phase II achieved handover, and the National Micro-Nano Manufacturing Innovation Center was approved.
Meanwhile, Yantai Airport Phase II began operations, and the Weifang-Yantai High-Speed Railway opened, achieving "high-speed rail to every county," significantly enhancing the city's development capacity.
The foundation of "stability" continues to be consolidated, while the momentum of "progress" accelerates. Last year, Yantai successfully secured 38.3 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special treasury bonds and special bonds, driving 346 provincial and municipal key projects to complete investments of 240 billion yuan, with 100 key technical transformation projects investing 26 billion yuan. Provincial key project investment scale has ranked first in the province for three consecutive years, with fixed asset investment growing approximately 3%.
In the first half of 2025, Yantai achieved a regional GDP of 537.511 billion yuan, growing 6.4% year-on-year, ranking first in Shandong Province for growth rate. Industrial structure continued to optimize, with the three industries growing 4%, 8.9%, and 4.5% respectively. Industrial performance was particularly outstanding, with above-scale industrial added value growing 13.4% and manufacturing added value growing 15.7%. Through implementing the industrial "top project" and enterprise multiplication plan, 277 new provincial specialized and innovative enterprises were cultivated, with high-tech enterprises exceeding 2,500. Chemical manufacturing, electronic equipment, and other leading industries showed significant driving effects, further strengthening economic resilience and growth momentum.
Creating Something from Nothing: From "Imitation" to "Innovation"
The biomedical industry, as a strategic emerging industry, has become the core engine of Yantai's high-quality development. In recent years, Yantai has constructed a full industrial chain ecosystem of "R&D-production-circulation" through "chain leader system" guidance, policy innovation, and spatial optimization, forming advantages in nuclear medicine, cell therapy, and high-end medical devices, accelerating the construction of an "International Life Science Innovation Demonstration City."
In terms of policy, Yantai has incorporated biomedicine into the "9+N" manufacturing cluster and 16 key industrial chains, issued special support policies, forming a complete system from top-level design to financial services. Financial support intensity leads the nation, providing up to 30 million yuan in R&D support and 50 million yuan in production rewards for Class I new drugs. In 2022, 136 million yuan in innovation rewards were distributed in one go.
Industrial innovation capacity continues to improve, forming a cluster led by Luye Pharma, REMEGEN, and Dongcheng Pharmaceutical, supported by nearly 130 above-scale enterprises. Total industry revenue has exceeded 100 billion yuan for three consecutive years, selected as a national strategic emerging industry cluster.
For example, REMEGEN focuses on antibody-drug conjugates, antibody fusion proteins, and other antibody drugs. The company owns the world's first BLyS/APRIL dual-target fusion protein telitacicept and China's first innovative ADC drug disitamab vedotin. In June this year, REMEGEN licensed telitacicept to Vor Bio on a paid basis, with the latter obtaining exclusive global development and commercialization rights outside Greater China. As transaction consideration, REMEGEN will receive $125 million in cash and warrants from Vor Bio, milestone payments up to $4.105 billion, and sales royalties.
Additionally, REMEGEN acquired a 23% stake in Vor Bio, becoming its largest shareholder, pioneering domestically the "upfront payment + milestone payments + sales royalties + high-proportion equity" overseas cooperation model. On July 14, the company received a $45 million upfront payment. On August 20, REMEGEN's independently developed novel bispecific antibody RC148 was officially included in breakthrough therapy drug categories by China's Center for Drug Evaluation, with the indication being "RC148 combined with docetaxel for treating driver gene-negative locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after failure of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor and platinum-containing chemotherapy (combined or sequential) treatment."
Mabwell (Shanghai) Bioscience Co., Ltd., established in 2013, is a CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) company focused on the biomedical field, specializing in providing professional, customized, and integrated CDMO services for biologics such as antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, fusion proteins, and recombinant protein vaccines. Particularly in ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugate) CMC, it is one of the few global suppliers capable of providing one-stop CDMO services for antibodies, Linker-Toxin, and ADC production.
The company has established R&D and production bases in China and the United States, continuously expanding domestic and international markets. The company possesses CHO cell large-scale culture and ADC technology platforms, covering the entire chain from early R&D, cell line development, production process development, analytical method development, quality research, clinical sample production, domestic and international IND/BLA applications to large-scale commercial production.
Yantai plans to further strengthen the biomedical industry, advancing projects such as REMEGEN's new drug industrialization and Baheal's stem cells, launching construction of the comprehensive bonded Blue Medicine Port, completing the main construction of the IVD (In Vitro Diagnostic Products) medical device industrial park and Phase I of the Sinopharm pharmaceutical industrial park. The focus will be on medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, cell and gene therapy, and immune economy, promoting the establishment of an immunology academician workstation, building medical electron accelerators, and laying out pilot platforms for gene editing and future foods to create new highlands for biomedical industry development.
Marine Strategy and Ocean-Oriented Development
As a core port city in the Bohai Economic Rim, Yantai is located in the northeast of Shandong Peninsula, guarding the intersection of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, embraced by mountains and sea with a mild climate, beautiful coastline, and fresh urban landscape. The port cluster composed of Yantai Port, Penglai Port, Longkou Port, and other deep-water excellent ports makes it an important foreign trade export for the north and a logistics hub connecting Northeast Asia and inland areas.
With the efficient import and export capabilities brought by its ports, Yantai established its industrial system foundation much earlier than other regions nationwide. From a trading port to a trillion-yuan industrial powerhouse, Yantai is a typical representative of northern city rise.
After joining the "trillion-yuan club," Yantai has designated the marine economy as a new growth pole, comprehensively launching a port-industry-city integration strategy: strengthening port infrastructure, promoting berth construction at Longkou Port and Zhifu Bay Port Area, advancing port railway connections and "Belt and Road" trans-sea China-Europe freight trains, developing port and shipping services and port-adjacent industries, accelerating green smart port construction, and building a central port around the Bohai Sea.
Yantai continues to deepen reforms, breaking institutional barriers, strengthening innovation and institutional supply, forming a batch of "Yantai experiences" that can be promoted nationwide, driving the integration of technology and industrial innovation.
In the future, Yantai will continue to adhere to marine leadership and innovation-driven development, steadily advancing "marine strategy."
From agricultural famous city to industrial powerhouse, from trillion-yuan breakthrough to ocean-oriented development, Yantai has used vivid practice to break the stereotype that "northern cities must rely on administrative advantages," proving that ordinary prefecture-level cities can also stand out in regional competition through precise industrial layout, innovation-driven development, and clear strategies. Its advancement path provides a replicable development model for northern cities.