According to information from the Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's recently released 2025 public list highlights 100 clusters nationwide, with 2 from Quanzhou making the cut: the Shishi City Casual Wear Industry Cluster and the Anxi County Rattan Iron Handicraft Industry Cluster. Quanzhou now boasts seven national-level specialized industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), trailing only Shenzhen and Chengdu (each with 8), and tying for second place with Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Qingdao.

The Shishi City casual wear industry cluster, a standout on this list, has evolved over more than 30 years into a comprehensive textile and apparel industry chain. It emphasizes breakthroughs in fabric development, dyeing, and weaving technologies, focusing on specialization, refinement, uniqueness, innovation, quality, and supply chain integration. The cluster aims to excel in offering diverse products, small batch production, and quick delivery. It comprises 397 SMEs, with a total output value of RMB 42.373 billion and an annual production capacity of 4.5 billion meters. This accounts for about 6% of the national output in fabric dyeing and finishing and roughly 10% in garment fabric dyeing and finishing. The cluster has nurtured 8 enterprises that use specialized and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products, along with 32 high-tech and innovative firms. Leading companies include Dasen Baoye with an output value of RMB 3.24 billion, Haobao Dyeing & Weaving with RMB 780 million, Qingyuan Technology with RMB 1.13 billion, and Well Able Group with RMB 1.98 billion.

Meanwhile, the Anxi County rattan iron home furnishing industry cluster has attracted over a hundred upstream and downstream supporting enterprises, including rattan iron craft design, rattan iron craft manufacturing, rattan iron craft finance, advertising & communication, cultural heritage, tourism, art design, packaging, logistics, e-commerce, tea culture, and LED crafts. The cluster boasts a rattan iron craft museum and a branch of Tsinghua University Shenzhen Graduate School. Known for its exquisite craftsmanship, large scale, and diverse products, the rattan iron industry, with its most comprehensive industrial chains in China and even the world, enjoys a stellar reputation both at home and abroad. The cluster has established the "Quanzhou Key Cultural Industry Park", the "China Rattan and Iron Craft Industry Base", and the "Anxi Model Worker Innovation Work Base", significantly boosting industrial growth and supporting high-quality development in Anxi County.

In recent years, Quanzhou has rolled out various measures to bolster its distinctive SME clusters. The city conducted extensive research in 13 counties (cities/districts), held over 30 symposiums, and visited more than 100 leading enterprises and nearly 20 major institutes and innovation platforms. These efforts have clarified the current status of key county-level industrial chains, defined development directions, and laid a solid foundation for applying for characteristic industrial clusters. Quanzhou has also led the way in the province and even nationwide by introducing supportive measures, offering incentive rewards of RMB 300,000 and RMB 150,000 for counties (cities/districts) that focus on cultivating enterprises that use specialized and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products and successfully apply for national and provincial-level characteristic industrial clusters.