The mainland side of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has long been dubbed the world’s workshop, a label that once suited its role in churning out goods for export. 

But that era is fading. What has emerged is a more sophisticated beast: a supply-chain ecosystem that marries scale with ingenuity, turning raw manufacturing muscle into a platform for global innovation. This metamorphosis, driven by technological leaps and policy nudges, has positioned the region as a linchpin in Asia’s economic narrative. For Hong Kong, with its storied financial prowess and legal sophistication, this evolution presents not rivalry, but a natural complement — one that could redefine cross-border collaboration in an increasingly fractured world economy.

The transformation is evident in the blend of local and foreign firms driving it forward. Domestic players like XPeng and WeRide are pushing boundaries in electric vehicles and autonomous tech, while international names such as Carl Zeiss, LG and Thermo Fisher anchor research and development operations amid the bustle. This cross-pollination fosters a supply chain that is nimble and resilient, adapting to disruptions that have bedeviled global trade in recent years. Consider the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic or trade tensions: While supply lines elsewhere snapped, the region’s integrated networks bent but did not break, underscoring a model that prioritizes flexibility over fragility.

Sprawling across 56,000 square kilometers, the Greater Bay Area houses 87 million people — more than Germany — and boasts a GDP approaching $2 trillion, rivaling Canada’s. Yet its edge lies less in sheer size than in the clustering of expertise, a phenomenon economists term “agglomeration economies”. In districts like Huangpu, specialists in advanced materials, new energy vehicles and biopharma operate in close quarters, slashing the time from idea to iteration.

The ascent of the Greater Bay Area’s mainland cities need not unsettle Hong Kong; rather, it underscores mutual gains. The mainland side’s hardware prowess pairs neatly with Hong Kong’s software — its legal frameworks, financial hubs and arbitration expertise. Cross-border deals already illustrate this, channeling funds into innovations and scaling them worldwide

A tweak to an electronics component, for instance, might go from drawing board to prototype in hours, not weeks. Such speed suits the shift toward customized, small-batch production, reducing inventory bloat and enabling firms to respond swiftly to market whims. Data from the Guangdong provincial government highlights the payoff: The region’s patent filings in high-tech sectors have surged by over 20 percent annually in recent years. As Martin Christopher, a supply-chain guru, has observed, “The real competition is between supply chains, not companies.” On that score, the Greater Bay Area scores highly.

This density facilitates knowledge spillovers — those serendipitous exchanges that spark breakthroughs. For businesses eyeing Asia, the Greater Bay Area offers a one-stop shop: design in Shenzhen, test in Guangzhou, and ship from Hong Kong, all within a day’s travel.

Old notions of the Greater Bay Area as a cheap-labor outpost miss the mark. Its real advantage is baked-in resilience. Ports at Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong — three of the world’s busiest — form a robust triad, interconnected by high-speed rail, highways and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Disrupt one route, and goods reroute seamlessly via another.

The payoffs are clear: quicker launches, leaner prototyping costs and fertile ground for collaborative innovation. Blanket 5G coverage powers smart factories that adjust in real time. In an age of geopolitical jitters and supply snarls, this redundancy offers a hedge that few regions can match. A McKinsey report estimates that such resilient chains can boost productivity by up to 15 percent.

This resilience extends to risk management. The Greater Bay Area’s multimodal transport options mitigate bottlenecks, while diversified supplier bases reduce dependency on single sources. For global firms, this translates to lower insurance premiums and more predictable operations.

Guangzhou’s Huangpu district quietly underpins much of this activity, contributing nearly 40 percent of the city’s industrial output. Global firms like Carl Zeiss, LG and Thermo Fisher have set up shop alongside domestic innovators — XPeng with its eVTOL ambitions, WeRide in driverless logistics, and EHang advancing urban air mobility. On Bio-Island, biopharma research flows into production, protected by the South China IP Court. The district’s 5G infrastructure and green-energy focus enable seamless integration, turning ideas into scalable realities.

The ascent of the Greater Bay Area’s mainland cities need not unsettle Hong Kong; rather, it underscores mutual gains. The mainland side’s hardware prowess pairs neatly with Hong Kong’s software — its legal frameworks, financial hubs and arbitration expertise. Cross-border deals already illustrate this, channeling funds into innovations and scaling them worldwide.

In a fragmented global economy, marked by protectionism and reshoring, such integration could prove the Greater Bay Area mainland side’s — and Hong Kong’s — most enduring asset. Policies like the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area encourage seamless connectivity in talent flows, capital markets and regulatory alignment. The result? A superregion where Hong Kong’s gateway role amplifies the Greater Bay Area mainland side’s productive core. As trade winds shift, embracing this complementarity isn’t optional — it’s imperative for sustained prosperity.

The author, an adviser on Greater Bay Area investment and supply chain strategy, is an international executive representative of Invest Guangzhou and chief advisor of Guangzhou’s Huangpu district.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.