A bird's-eye view of Hangzhou's CBD. [Photo/shangcheng.gov.cn]

Preeminent US financial magazine Fortune released its much-anticipated 2025 Global 500 company rankings on July 29, with nine enterprises making the cut headquartered in Hangzhou — capital of East China's Zhejiang province — including tech giants, automakers and industrial investors.

Tech titan Alibaba Group ranked 63rd, up seven spots from last year. Elsewhere, Geely Holding Group was one of 10 Chinese auto firms on the list, coming in at 155th. The manufacturer is going from strength to strength — continuing its global expansion with annual overseas sales now exceeding 400,000 vehicles.

Chemicals giant Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding ranked 118th — an effective recognition of its successful efforts in pivoting towards advanced materials R&D.

The list also reflected Hangzhou's diverse industrial strength. In auto innovation, Geely recently merged with Zeekr and plans to expand into the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa — while Hangzhou's new energy vehicle output surged 117.8 percent in the first half of 2025.

For tech leadership, Alibaba's AI push — including the release of its Qwen and Tongyi large language models — is transforming industrial and public services.

In the field of high-tech transformation, companies like Rongsheng and Hangzhou Industrial Investment are investing heavily in frontier fields such as green petrochemicals and low-altitude economy tech.

Hangzhou's presence on the Fortune list is said to reflect its wider rise as a hub of global innovation and industrial transformation.

A giant glass-free 3D screen brightens up the Wensan digital block in Hangzhou. [Photo/VCG]