CIMT2025 Theme: 

Collaborative innovation on digital & intelligent

manufacturing is embracing the future

The China International Machine Tool Show (CIMT) is set to host a landmark event in its history. The 19th CIMT will take place from April 21-26, 2025, marking the first time the exhibition will utilize two exhibition halls at Shunyi, Beijing, one is the newly completed Capital International Exhibition Center of China, and the other is China International Exhibition Center (Shunyi Hall), with a total exhibition area of 310,000 square meters (140,000 square meters at CIMT2023), the scale of CIMT2025 is set to be unprecedented.

Founded in 1989, CIMT is held every odd-numbered year in Beijing and is recognized globally as one of the four major international machine tool exhibitions, alongside EMO in Europe, IMTS in the U.S., and JIMTOF in Japan. Over the years, driven by strong market demand in China and favorable industrial policies, CIMT has gained substantial global influence. It has become a critical platform not only for showcasing cutting-edge technologies and innovative products but also for facilitating industry exchanges and fostering good interactions between suppliers and users. Moreover, CIMT serves as a vital barometer for understanding the latest shifts in China's market demands and swiftly responding to these changes. In light of the unprecedented global challenges, CIMT2025 will attract significant attention in the global machine tool and equipment manufacturing fields due to its massive scale and high international standards.

The theme of CIMT2025 continues to be Collaborative innovation on digital & intelligent manufacturing is embracing the future. This theme, introduced in 2023, remains highly relevant today, effectively reflecting the current state and future trends of the industry.

High-Quality Development Opens up New Markets  

China’s broader economic focus on high-quality development has opened new market spaces for the machine tool and tool industry. The Central Economic Work Conference has emphasized the importance of driving industrial innovation through technological advancements, particularly through disruptive and frontier technologies that give rise to new industries, business models, and momentum for the development of new quality productive forces. These innovations focus on fields including emerging industries, digital economy, green low-carbon technologies, and intelligent manufacturing etc..

In March 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, along with six other Ministries, jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for Promoting Equipment Upgrades in the Industrial Field”, creating favorable application environment for the machine tool industry’s from the demand side. Mao Yufeng, the President of the China Machine Tool & Tool Builders’ Association, stated that each equipment upgrade initiative has played an important role in expanding the machine tool industry and consumer market in China. The latest plan is launched against the backdrop of developing new quality productive forces and promoting high-quality development. The demand for new equipment in high-precision, high-efficiency, and high-tech fields such as aerospace, new energy, rail transit, medical devices, and 3C electronics will bring even greater business opportunities for the high-end CNC machine tool industry.

In 2025, the Chinese government plans to lead the development of new quality productive forces through technological innovation, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, and promote the integration of technological and industrial innovation. It will increase support for “Two New” and “Two Key” projects, which will further stimulate incremental demand in the machine tool and tool industry.

Collaborative Innovation Stimulates New Momentum

Technological innovation has become the primary driver of industrial development, with numerous new technological fields, which are revolutionizing industries, continuously being developed and deepened. The application of digital twin technology, the evolution of artificial intelligence, the promotion of green energy-saving technologies, and the advancement of automation technologies will continue to inspire the machine tool industry to introduce more innovative and exceptional products with higher value.

This new development trend also means that collaboration and complementarity within the industrial chain—both suppliers and users—will continue to increase, as well as cooperation among equipment industries in different countries. There is growing room for integrated innovation in areas such as supply chain integration, joint research and development, new market cultivation, and talent development.

Currently, collaborative innovation across the industrial chain has become one of the mainstream models for product innovation and application promotion in the machine tool industry. It has further deepened the integration of industry chain and innovation chain, and gradually formed a unified, open, and competitively organized ecosystem for collaborative innovation between industry, academia, research, and users. Various forms of innovation consortiums are now conducting joint technical research on core machine tool components, CNC systems, control software, intelligent systems, and complete user process systems. Joint innovation between suppliers and users enterprises has accelerated the iterative upgrades of machine tool products, driving broader and deeper supply-demand matching in the machine tool enterprises.

New momentum is bringing about new landscapes. The machine tool and tool industry is focusing on deep exploration in new technologies, new markets, and new fields, continually leading technical breakthroughs. The technological support system, which includes basic technologies, frontier technologies, common technologies, and key core technologies for high-end products, is becoming increasingly robust. The ability to serve emerging industries continues to grow, and the new development concept characterized by green manufacturing is becoming more deeply integrated.

Smart Future Unlocks New Business Models

Integration and innovation are also driving smart manufacturing to new heights. After years of deep integration, digital technologies and manufacturing have led to the widespread application and continuous iteration of smart manufacturing equipment. High-end CNC machine tools, industrial robots, intelligent logistics, sensors, detection, and control equipment have now become standard configurations, laying a solid foundation for smart manufacturing.

Information technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. On one hand, the integration and application of artificial intelligence with new generation information technologies will accelerate. On the other hand, the construction of digital infrastructure is continuously strengthening, with industrial internet, gigabit optical networks, and computing centers being scaled up. The deepening development of information technology and digital infrastructure will drive the emergence of a new era in smart manufacturing, forming a fully integrated and comprehensive smart manufacturing ecosystem.

The current machine tool and tool market is characterized by diversification, multi-layered segments, decentralization, and rapid change, a stark contrast to the traditional, stable development model of the past. How will the industry respond? With the deep integration of digital twins, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge intelligent technologies with the machine tool industry, high-efficiency flexible production in various application scenarios is becoming a reality, the evolution of the market has ushered in an era of disruptive innovation.

Through more than 30 years of development, CIMT has witnessed the growth of digital and intelligent manufacturing from its inception to its current stage, every edition of CIMT has enriched its connotations and evolved further. The integration of sensor technologies, computer technologies, and software technologies has gradually popularized intelligent features such as automatic detection, automatic compensation, automatic control, and condition monitoring in exhibits. The deep integration of digital and intelligent technologies and processing techniques has brought machine tool and tool products closer to the innovation needs of users, enabling companies to offer more complete solutions that meet personalized, customized, and differentiated demands. The incorporation of artificial intelligence, industrial internet, and other highly digitalized and intelligent elements has driven the leap in technological development of machine tool products. The industry chain is actively exploring new business models such as flexible production, shared manufacturing, virtual manufacturing, and new intelligent manufacturing modes based on artificial intelligence.

CIMT 2025 is an event to look forward to!

Source: China Machine Tool & Tool Builders’ Association

Exhibition Information

· Name: The 19th China International Machine Tool Show (CIMT 2025)

· Date: April 21-26, 2025

· Location: Shunyi, Beijing

· Venue: Capital International Exhibition Center of China

China International Exhibition Center (Shunyi Hall)

· Sponsor: China Machine Tool & Tool Builders’ Association