Over the past two decades, China’s internet development has revolved almost entirely around consumer internet. From e-commerce, mobile payment and social media to live-stream shopping, China has not only built the world’s largest consumer internet market, but also cultivated a cohort of platform enterprises with global influence. Nevertheless, as the consumer internet sector gradually shifts into stock competition, the logic of value creation for the internet is undergoing a transformation. A growing amount of capital, technology and talent is flowing into the industrial internet space, aiming to restructure the supply chain, procurement and production systems of China’s manufacturing sector via digital technologies, and further boost the operational efficiency of the entire industrial chain. As a result, the industrial internet is widely regarded as the new track with the greatest growth potential following the consumer internet. In recent years, industrial internet platforms represented by ZKHK, JD Industrial, 1688 Industrial Products, Xiyu and Gongpinhui have expanded rapidly. Through digitalized procurement, supply chain integration, logistics network development and cloud platform construction, these platforms have greatly lifted the transaction efficiency of industrial goods, and steered the long fragmented, information-asymmetric industrial goods market toward digitalization and platformization. Addressing numerous pain points in traditional industrial goods circulation, these platforms have made a rising number of enterprises recognize the immense value embedded in industrial internet. That said, viewing the industrial internet merely as a digital procurement or supply chain platform would underestimate the true significance of this round of industrial transformation. The industrial internet tackles efficiency challenges, yet the ultimate competition for corporate globalization hinges on trust. In the past, bolstered by advantages in cost, scale and supply chain, China’s manufacturing industry swiftly evolved into the world’s largest manufacturing ecosystem. The label “Made in China” stood largely for production capacity within global supply chains, with international buyers focusing on delivery speed, product quality and price competitiveness. At this stage, manufacturing competence determined whether a company could gain access to global supply chains. Today, however, this competitive logic is shifting. Amid continuous restructuring of global industrial chains, more international clients are reassessing their supplier portfolios. Procurement criteria are no longer limited to cost and quality; they have expanded to cover corporate brand reputation, global service capacity, local operation capabilities, ESG performance, digital maturity and long-term partnership reliability. For an increasing number of industrial manufacturers, products serve merely as an entry ticket to the market, while brands have become the core asset sustaining long-term growth. In truth, neither the development of industrial internet platforms nor manufacturers’ digital transformation aims solely to build new transaction channels. Their ultimate goal is to help enterprises foster more stable, efficient and trustworthy commercial partnerships. Research on international B2B branding also confirms that in industrial markets, the primary value of a brand lies not in advertising outreach, but in lowering clients’ decision-making risks, streamlining procurement workflows and nurturing long-term collaboration. For industrial manufacturers, a brand functions as a trust mechanism rather than a mere marketing symbol. This leads us to conclude that China’s industrial internet has entered a new phase. Over the past decade, the industry centered on digitalizing transactions, procurement and supply chains. Over the next decade, the core questions the sector must address will revolve around how to leverage digital capabilities to build global brands, how to secure trust from international clients through branding, and how to shift competition from supply chains to value chains. This marks the second half of the industrial internet era, and a new chapter for the global expansion of China’s manufacturing industry. Industrial internet platforms can cut procurement costs, boost operational efficiency and optimize supply chain management for enterprises, yet they cannot substitute in-house brand building. ERP, MES, CRM, industrial internet platforms and artificial intelligence all drive operational efficiency, but no technology can independently build brand recognition in overseas markets, nor can any platform accumulate customer trust on a company’s behalf. Therefore, the greatest competitive edge for China’s manufacturing sector in the future will not stem from a larger SKU catalog or more warehousing and logistics nodes. Instead, it will belong to enterprises that cultivate superior brand trust worldwide — brands that international clients prioritize, rather than merely their products. This is a long-standing viewpoint held by Tupu Consulting: the industrial internet reshapes corporate operational efficiency, while B2B branding defines a company’s standing within global industrial chains. Digitalization enables enterprises to “connect with the world”, while branding empowers them to “win over the world”. Over the next decade, global competition for China’s industrial manufacturing sector will gradually transition from “product export” to “brand globalization”, and from “globalized supply chains” to “globalized branding”. Ultimately, Chinese manufacturers will evolve from participants in global value chains into co-shapers of global value chain rules, branding standards and trust systems. This represents not only the upgrading path for China’s manufacturing industry, but also a key milestone signaling the full maturity of the industrial internet.