CITIC Construction Investment: China's Power Equipment Export Boom Continues, Strong Expectations Are Turning Into Reality

CITIC Construction & Investment research report points out that China’s power equipment going overseas is entering a golden development period. Customs data for January–February 2026 show that the export growth rate of China’s power transformers remains above 40%, continuing a relatively high growth momentum, consistently confirming strong overseas demand. By market segment, the demand scale for transformers in the US and Europe ranks globally first; demand continues to be highly optimistic while supply and demand remains tight. Chinese companies’ exports to North America have maintained high growth, and are expected to continue increasing market penetration. With the US and Europe siphoning global capacity, Chinese companies have seen a large-scale ramp-up in the Middle East. In 2025, the value of China’s exports of power transformers to Saudi Arabia exceeded RMB 6 billion. We expect that demand in the US and Europe will continue to be highly optimistic; with demand growth in non-US-and-Europe markets such as the Middle East and the US-and-Europe siphoning of global capacity, Chinese companies will have plenty of opportunities to capitalize on. Leading export companies continue to deliver on fundamentals, and strong expectations are continuously turning into reality.

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CITIC Construction & Investment: High and steady momentum continues for China’s power equipment exports overseas, and strong expectations keep turning into reality

China’s power equipment going overseas is entering a golden development period. Customs data for January–February 2026 show that the export growth rate of China’s power transformers remains above 40%, continuing a relatively high growth momentum, consistently confirming strong overseas demand. By market segment, the demand scale for transformers in the US and Europe ranks globally first; demand continues to be highly optimistic while supply and demand remains tight. Chinese companies’ exports to North America have maintained high growth, and are expected to continue increasing market penetration. With the US and Europe siphoning global capacity, Chinese companies have seen a large-scale ramp-up in the Middle East. In 2025, the value of China’s exports of power transformers to Saudi Arabia exceeded RMB 6 billion. We expect that demand in the US and Europe will continue to be highly optimistic; with demand growth in non-US-and-Europe markets such as the Middle East and the US-and-Europe siphoning of global capacity, Chinese companies will have plenty of opportunities to capitalize on. Leading export companies continue to deliver on fundamentals, and strong expectations are continuously turning into reality.

2026 China’s power equipment exports: high momentum continues

1）Chinese transformer exports overseas are entering a golden development period. China’s power equipment manufacturing level ranks among the top in the world, the power equipment industry chain is complete, risk-resilience is strong, and supply is relatively sufficient.

2）Since 2022, the export scale of China’s primary equipment has continued to maintain strong momentum. In 2025, the export volume of power transformers increased year-on-year by more than 45% for the full year. In January–February 2026, the year-on-year growth remained above 40%, further confirming the strong overseas demand and indicating that high export growth will not ease.

US and Europe demand continues to be highly optimistic, while supply and demand remains tight; Chinese companies maintain high growth in exports to North America

1）North American data center construction is constrained by power supply; the US has restarted expansion of ultra-high-voltage transmission capacity. The three major regional grid operators in the US were approved for a combined total of USD 75 billion in transmission capacity expansion projects, with the core being the construction of a number of 765kV ultra-high-voltage lines.

2）Demand for high-voltage power equipment continues to grow, while supply is short; the supply-demand contradiction is increasingly evident. US power transformers have gone for more than 20 consecutive months without any noticeable price pullback; tight supply and demand has not eased.

3）Chinese transformer exports to North America continue to grow at a high rate. In 2025 for the full year and in January–February 2026, China’s exports of power transformers to North America have maintained a high growth rate of nearly 40%.

With the US and Europe siphoning global capacity, non-US-and-Europe regions fully embrace China’s production capacity

1）In 2025, the value of China’s exports of power transformers to Saudi Arabia exceeded RMB 6 billion, up more than 100% year-on-year. Based on data from the past two years, Saudi Arabia has surpassed the US to become China’s largest export destination for power transformers.

2）Chinese companies will have plenty of room to capitalize on in the Middle East market. In the future, more companies will build factories in the Middle East, advance local development initiatives, and open up the global market. With non-US-and-Europe demand increasing plus the US-and-Europe siphoning global capacity, we continue to look favorably on opportunities in non-US-and-Europe markets such as the Middle East.

（Source: Jiemian News）