When the industry is in an upswing, collaborative alliances among enterprises can enable both parties to gain more profits; when the industry is at the bottom, such alliances become even more important, helping enterprises tide over difficulties together.

At present, the construction machinery industry remains at the bottom, but judging from the data for the first half of 2025, a recovery trend is gradually emerging. According to statistics, from January to June 2025, a total of 120,520 excavators were sold, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%; a total of 64,769 loaders of various types were sold, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%. Although overall equipment sales are not yet at their peak, the upward trend has already brought a certain degree of confidence to the industry.

Against the backdrop of an overall industry recovery, strategic cooperation among construction machinery enterprises was very frequent in the first half of 2025. It can be said that everyone hopes to achieve resource sharing and complementary advantages through strategic cooperation, jointly resisting industry cycles and opening up new market space.

Manufacturer cooperation to reduce the impact of industry cycles

In May 2025, the "2025 Changsha International Construction Machinery Host and Supporting Parts Global Procurement Signing Conference" was grandly held at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center. With the theme of "Smart Chain Connecting the World · Co-creating New Quality," the conference gathered more than 100 enterprises in the construction machinery industry chain, including Zoomlion and Sany Heavy Industry. At the event, host manufacturers and some supporting parts enterprises signed annual procurement agreements worth over 13 billion yuan.

At the conference, six construction machinery host enterprises—Zoomlion, Sany Heavy Industry, Sunward Intelligent, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, Sinoboom Intelligent, and Runtian Zhike—reached strategic cooperation through digital electronic signing. It is worth noting that this cooperation not only covers the procurement of intelligent equipment but also extends to deeper areas such as collaborative technology R&D and overseas market expansion.

In terms of intelligent equipment procurement, the six enterprises, through centralized purchasing, can not only reduce procurement costs and improve procurement efficiency but also promote the popularization and application of intelligent equipment, accelerating the intelligent upgrading of the industry. In terms of collaborative technology R&D, they will integrate their respective R&D resources to jointly tackle industry technical challenges and drive innovative development of construction machinery technology. In terms of overseas market expansion, they will leverage their respective overseas channel advantages to jointly develop international markets and enhance the global influence of Chinese construction machinery brands.

This kind of strategic cooperation among host manufacturers has greatly reduced the impact of industry cycles on enterprises. On the one hand, through cooperation, enterprises have optimized the allocation of industry resources, increased industrial concentration, and enhanced their own competitiveness; on the other hand, through collaborative technology R&D and overseas market expansion cooperation, they have promoted industry technological progress and opened up new market space.

Cross-sector cooperation to enhance intelligent and green development

In January 2025, the strategic cooperation signing ceremony between Lingong Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. was held at Huawei's Bantian Base in Shenzhen.

According to the strategic cooperation agreement, both parties will fully leverage their respective advantages to jointly develop mature and stable autonomous mining trucks. Huawei will provide its core technologies in the autonomous driving field, including vehicle-side perception, intelligent scheduling, and 5G networks, while Lingong Heavy Machinery will use its capabilities in equipment manufacturing to apply these technologies to the R&D and production of mining trucks. In addition, after the large-scale application of autonomous mining trucks, Lingong Heavy Machinery, relying on its strength in vehicle operation and maintenance and engineering operations, will be able to ensure production safety and efficiency improvements in mines. In the future, both parties will also work together globally to build "lighthouse projects" in the autonomous driving field, providing a demonstration for the intelligent development of the global mining industry.

This cooperation between Lingong Heavy Machinery and Huawei is just a microcosm of the intelligent transformation of the construction machinery industry in recent years. Looking around, more and more construction machinery enterprises are joining hands with well-known companies in the internet, communications, and new energy industries to inject new soul into traditional equipment with digital code.

For example, in 2019, Zoomlion cooperated with China Mobile; in 2021, Sany Heavy Industry cooperated with China Telecom, and LiuGong cooperated with Tencent; in 2023, XCMG cooperated with NetEase. In addition, there are also cooperations in the field of autonomous mining trucks, such as Tongli Heavy Industry with Eacon, and Lingong Heavy Machinery with Tage Zhixing.

At the same time, battery and supporting enterprises such as CATL and FinDreams Battery have also participated, further promoting cross-sector cooperation between new energy enterprises and construction machinery manufacturers. For example, Sany Group and Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group have partnered with CATL to carry out close cooperation in the field of new energy construction machinery, promoting the electrification development of the construction machinery industry, and so on.

These cross-sector cooperation cases fully demonstrate the enormous potential of integrating the construction machinery industry with the technology and communications fields. Through cross-sector cooperation, construction machinery enterprises have introduced advanced technologies and concepts, accelerated the intelligent and green upgrading of products, and provided strong impetus for the sustainable development of the industry.

Industrial cooperation to open up overseas markets

In April 2025, during the Bauma exhibition in Munich, Germany, a China (Changsha) Construction Machinery and Remanufactured (Used) Equipment Economic and Trade Matchmaking Conference (Europe Session) with the theme of "Crossing Mountains and Seas · Sharing the Future" was held at the 2025 Bauma exhibition site. This event successfully built an efficient platform for precise supply-demand matching in the China-Europe construction machinery industry. Through various forms such as technology supply-demand displays, project signing and implementation, strategic unveiling, and industry dialogues, it helped Chinese construction machinery "go global."

In May 2025, the "2025 Construction Machinery and International Logistics Enterprise Cooperation Matchmaking Conference" was successfully held at the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing. For the export of construction machinery products, sea freight is the main delivery method, which makes stable and reliable international shipping logistics services crucial for construction machinery enterprises. It not only affects whether products can be delivered to customers on time and safely but also directly impacts the stability of enterprises' logistics costs, supply chains, and capital chains.

Through this matchmaking conference, construction machinery enterprises and international logistics enterprises were able to engage in in-depth exchanges, jointly explore cooperation models, solve problems and difficulties in foreign trade supply chain management, and establish long-term stable cooperative relationships. This plays an important role that cannot be ignored in promoting the internationalization process of China's construction machinery industry and enhancing the industry's competitiveness in international markets.

In summary, strategic cooperation in the construction machinery industry not only promotes technological innovation and industrial upgrading but also brings new development opportunities and challenges to the industry. With the continuous deepening of cooperation and the widespread application of new technologies, we have reason to believe that the construction machinery industry will be able to smoothly pass through the bottom period in its future development and usher in a better tomorrow.