by Carmela I. Huelar
CHINESE companies are shifting their focus toward long-term growth strategies centered on supply chain resilience, artificial intelligence adoption, and expansion into new markets to navigate an increasingly complex global trade environment, a new report shows.
According to data released by DP World’s Global Trade Observatory, businesses in the world’s second-largest economy are looking beyond traditional cost and scale metrics to adapt to changing international dynamics.
The survey of 292 supply chain and logistics executives in China, conducted in late 2025, revealed that 58 percent of respondents plan to increase their supplier base and diversify sourcing in 2026. Other strategic adjustments include near-shoring operations (38 percent), friend-shoring (36 percent), and increasing physical inventories (32 percent).
Executives indicated that these shifts are driven by a mix of defensive and proactive measures, including sustainability and ESG mandates, technological opportunities, regional trade incentives, and tariff responses.
Technology stood out as the primary catalyst for future expansion. When asked to identify top business growth drivers over the next one to three years, 50 percent of Chinese executives pointed to the deployment of AI, while 44 percent cited broader digitalization efforts.
This emphasis aligns with Beijing’s recent “Two Sessions” policy directives, which prioritized “New Quality Productive Forces” — including advanced computing and tech-driven systems — as core components of China’s next economic phase.
“China’s next trade advantage will come from resilience and adaptability, not just scale,” said Glen Hilton, CEO and managing director for Asia-Pacific at DP World. “Chinese companies are already diversifying suppliers, entering new corridors, and investing in digital systems and AI.”
Hilton emphasized that managing this distributed network requires integrated logistics rather than fragmented service providers. “What customers increasingly need ... is an operating partner that can connect the physical and digital layers of trade — ports, terminals, freight forwarding, customs, warehousing, systems, and last-mile execution,” he added.
Market expansion also remains high on the corporate agenda, with 43 percent of surveyed executives targeting demand from new markets and consumers, and 34 percent focusing on developing entirely new value chains.
DP World, a logistics infrastructure giant that handles approximately 10 percent of global containerized trade, noted that these trends are actively playing out across critical sectors in China, including e-commerce, automotive, healthcare, and technology.
REPORTING CONTRIBUTED BY CARMELA I. HUELAR FROM SHANGHAI
