The Rise of China’s Shipbuilding Industry
A majority of the world's ships by tonnage are now built in Chinese shipyards. This industrial dominance is allowing China to drive forward maritime technology and create new categories of ships.
Approximately 53% of all ships built in the world by gross tonnage are built in China; only 0.1% are built in the United States.1 In February 2026, the U.S. government for the first time released a plan to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry, with the goals of increasing shipbuilding capacity and decoupling the U.S. and its allies from reliance on Chinese shipbuilding capacity.2 According to the plan, the objective is not just to “grow the number of vessels built in the United States,” but to “reconstitute a resilient [military-industrial base] capable of self-sustained production, rapid mobilization in crises, and competitive international performance.”3 This plan comes at the same moment that Chinese shipbuilding firms have reached a critical mass of market share, with approximately 64% of the global orderbook in terms of gross tonnage in 2025.4 Chinese shipbuilding firms include COSCO Heavy Industry—the shipbuilding arm of the shipping giant COSCO—and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, the largest privately-owned shipbuilder in China, but the most notable is the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), a massive state-owned conglomerate which controls nearly one-fifth of total global shipbuilding capacity.5