Guangdong’s 9 pillar industries are: textiles and garments, food and beverages, construction materials, electronics and information technology, electric appliances and machinery, petrochemical, forestation and papermaking, pharmaceutical, and automobile.

In 2003, the gross value of industrial output from these 9 pillar industries amounted to RMB 1,584.697 billion, a rise of 27.5% over the previous year, and accounted for 89.4% of the increase of the provincial industrial output value. Of them, 3 growing pillar industries, electronics and information technology, electric appliances and machinery, and petrochemical, reached RMB 1,065.711 billion in industrial output value, accounting for 50.7% of the provincial total and for 66.5% of the increase of the provincial industrial output value. The 3 traditional pillar industries, textiles and garments, foodstuff and beverages, and construction materials, reached RMB 360.966 billion in industrial output value, an increase of 16.2%; The remaining 3 industries showed great potential - forestation and papermaking, pharmaceutical and automobile, reached RMB 156.02 billion in industrial output value, increasing by 28.6%.

IT product manufacture is the biggest sector of the Guangdong manufacturing industry. Its industrial output value accounts for 26.9% of the provincial total. Guangdong is an important IT industry base in the world. The City of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, produces over 75% of world’s computer mainboards, magnetic heads, keyboards, drives, monitors and scanners. Guangdong, in particular Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, is making great efforts to build the Pearl River Delta area into a main international manufacture base for electric and information technology products by developing production of communication products, new components and parts, computer and internet products, digital audio-video appliances, and intelligentized household electric appliances. By 2005, Guangdong’s IT product manufacture is expected to have a gross output value of RMB 820 billion.