Chinese Companies Bet on Supply Chain Resilience and AI in 2026

Chinese companies will rebuild their supply chains in 2026 around more suppliers and more routes, and they will run those rebuilt networks on AI. DP World’s Global Trade Observatory, surveying 292 supply chain and logistics executives in China in November 2025, finds that 58% plan to increase suppliers to diversify sourcing this year, the most popular strategic change in the China sample and seven points above the global figure of 51%. The same survey names deploying AI as the single most cited growth driver for Chinese companies over the next one to three years, picked by 50% of respondents.

Released on 2 July 2026 via Media OutReach Newswire, the China findings come out of a broader Global Trade Observatory Annual Outlook that drew responses from more than 3,500 executives across 19 countries. The global report, issued ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, was published by DP World, the Dubai-based operator that handles around 10% of global containerised trade and runs 16 ports and terminals across Asia Pacific.

Supplier Diversification Tops the Defensive Playbook

The defensive playbook in China reads like a layered wall. Adding suppliers to widen the sourcing base is the first move, with 58% naming it among the strategic changes they plan for 2026. Near-shoring operations is the second layer, cited by 38%, followed by friend-shoring at 36% and increasing inventories at 32%. The four are not mutually exclusive; the survey treats them as separate levers, and Chinese executives are pulling several at once.

The drivers behind those shifts are not purely defensive. Asked why they were diversifying, Chinese respondents pointed to a stack of pressures and opportunities: sustainability and ESG requirements, new technology enabling operational change, the pursuit of greater agility and resilience, local market trade policies and incentives, response to tariffs, and the pull of new market entry. Diversification in China is being framed as much by where executives want to go as by what they want to escape.

The four most-cited China strategic changes for 2026, drawn directly from the survey:

• 58% – increasing suppliers to diversify sourcing
• 38% – near-shoring operations
• 36% – friend-shoring operations
• 32% – increasing inventories

Globally, supplier diversification also led the 2026 agenda at 51%, but the China response runs hotter, a sign that Chinese respondents are weighting resilience harder than the cross-country average.

AI Overtakes Every Defensive Measure as the Growth Bet

Set against the defensive lineup, the growth-driver ranking in China tells a different story. Asked about the top drivers of growth for their business over the coming one to three years, 50% of Chinese executives identified deploying AI. Wider digitalisation followed at 44%, growing demand from new markets and consumers at 43%, and new value chains at 34%. AI is the only priority that beats both the resilience agenda and the market-expansion agenda on its own.

Glen Hilton, CEO and Managing Director for Asia Pacific at DP World, frames the China shift in operational terms. “China’s next trade advantage will come from resilience and adaptability, not just scale,” he said in the release. “Chinese companies are already diversifying suppliers, entering new corridors and investing in digital systems and AI. But that ambition creates most value when companies can see their cargo, switch between routes, clear borders, manage documentation and fulfil reliably across markets.”

China’s next trade advantage will come from resilience and adaptability, not just scale.

The cross-check against the global Annual Outlook Report 2026, which drew on 3,500 executives, reinforces the read. Globally, the top three growth drivers were new markets and consumers at 46%, deploying AI at 43%, and improving infrastructure and transport capacity at 42%. China sits ahead of the global AI number by seven percentage points, and ahead of the supplier-diversification number by seven as well. The gap on AI is the more telling of the two.

How It Lines Up With the ‘Two Sessions’ Push

The China release draws an explicit line to the country’s industrial policy. The 50% AI result and the 44% digitalisation result, the report says, “aligns closely with the direction set out at China’s ‘Two Sessions’, where New Quality Productive Forces, including AI and advanced technologies, were positioned as central to the country’s next phase of economic development.” That phrase, New Quality Productive Forces, has been the centrepiece of Beijing’s growth pitch since 2023 and was re-emphasised in the 15th Five-Year Plan guidance delivered at the Two Sessions in March 2026.

Outside China, the broader Annual Outlook paints a fragile but confident global backdrop. Despite tariffs, costs, and policy uncertainty, 94% of executives across the 19-country survey expect 2026 trade growth to match or exceed the pace of 2025, with 54% expecting faster growth and 40% expecting it to hold steady. The same executives expect high or very high policy uncertainty in 2026. The optimism sits on top of the worry, which is what the supplier-diversification and AI numbers are built to absorb.

Who Actually Captures the Value When the Playbook Changes

If Chinese companies are widening the supplier base and layering AI across the result, the question is who brokers the new map. DP World, the survey’s author, is positioning itself for that role. It employs over 12,000 people across 22 Asia Pacific geographies, runs 16 ports and terminals in the region, and operates across freight forwarding, contract logistics, warehousing, customs and documentation support, ports and terminals, and technology-enabled supply-chain visibility. Across the group, it handles around 10% of global containerised trade with a team of more than 125,000 on six continents.

The same paragraph of the release describes the sell: “What customers increasingly need is not a disconnected set of providers. They need an operating partner that can connect the physical and digital layers of trade – ports, terminals, freight forwarding, customs, warehousing, systems and last-mile execution.” The China Country Report, released alongside the global Annual Outlook, is meant to be the evidence base for that pitch inside the Chinese market.

The China numbers, set against the global sample, are a snapshot of where the next spend lands:

The China Country Report with additional local insights is available through the Global Trade Observatory data hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Chinese supply-chain executives did DP World survey, and when?

DP World’s Global Trade Observatory surveyed 292 supply chain and logistics executives in China in November 2025, with the China release issued on 2 July 2026.

What is the most popular 2026 supply chain change in China?

Increasing suppliers to diversify sourcing, named by 58% of the China sample, ahead of near-shoring at 38%, friend-shoring at 36%, and increasing inventories at 32%.

What is the top growth priority for Chinese companies over the next one to three years?

Deploying AI, cited by 50% of Chinese respondents, followed by wider digitalisation at 44%, growing demand from new markets and consumers at 43%, and new value chains at 34%.

How do Chinese priorities compare with the global survey?

Chinese respondents run hotter than the global average on supplier diversification (58% versus 51%) and on AI as a growth driver (50% versus 43%), based on DP World’s separate China and global surveys.

What does DP World do in China?

DP World provides end-to-end supply chain solutions in China spanning freight forwarding, contract logistics, warehousing, customs and documentation support, ports and terminals, and technology-enabled supply-chain visibility.