The Sino-US economic and trade friction reminds us that in order to become a country strong in manufacturing on the global value chain (GVC), we must be highly vigilant against the risks that intermediate input suppliers with core technologies, key parts and special materials may bring to China's industrial security for various motives at critical moments. Intermediate product suppliers with such nature and ability are generally called invisible champions.
In the division of labor of GVC, Chinese enterprises have always been in the production links such as processing and assembly because of their comparative advantages, which are the low-end links of high-tech industries. In recent years, some Chinese enterprises have been stuck, which proves that China needs to cultivate more invisible champions, break through the bottleneck of development, and gradually move towards the middle- and high-end of GVC. The invisible champion is the core for China to become a country strong in manufacturing.
This paper believes that we should extend the industrial chain upward and cultivate invisible champions in GVC, and analyzes the implementation path and significance of this strategy, as well as the points for attention in the implementation process.
