Built on OECD trade value-added data across 10 advanced industries, the Hamilton Index 2026 maps a 27-year shift — from a Western-led order to one China increasingly anchors.
Global advanced industry holds a steady ~11.6% of the world economy — a fixed pie. So competition is near zero-sum: China's gain of ~21 points closely matches the OECD's 28-point loss.
China ranks #1 in 7 of the 10 advanced industries. In three of them it controls more than a third of all global output.
China also leads in computer & electronics, chemicals and metal products. Its biggest single sector — basic metals — is just 17% of its own advanced output: a broad-spectrum base, not a single-point bet.
The U.S. peaked at 28.1% of global advanced industry in 2000 and fell to 22.3% by 2022 — overtaken by China, and now below the global average on specialization.
Just three sectors: IT services (36.1%), other transport equipment (37.6% — aerospace / Boeing) and pharmaceuticals (28.5%). IT services alone carries U.S. growth.
Strip out IT services and the other 9 sectors keep shrinking — bottoming near 17.2% in 2011. U.S. specialization (LQ 0.88) sits below the global average; closing the gap to China would need ~$1.5T of added output.
Advanced industry stays near 11.6% of the world economy — so one country's rise is another's decline. There is no shared-growth path here.
China's specialization index is just 0.02 — far more balanced than Taiwan, Vietnam or Korea. It controls many supply chains at once, not one niche.
It isn't one country: Japan fell 24% → 5.8%, Germany down ~5 points, the UK/France/Italy all shrinking. Regulation hasn't reversed it.
U.S. growth leans almost entirely on IT services. Manufacturing-side advanced industry has stalled for years — the core reason China pulled ahead.
China's edge isn't one product — it's a broad, interlocking industrial base across metals, machinery, electrical equipment and electronics. For sourcing, that means breadth and substitutability under one supply chain. Cube-Age's Houston hub turns that breadth into a usable U.S.-facing channel: one staging point for warehousing, fulfillment and compliance across the Americas.
Source: The Hamilton Index 2026, built on OECD trade value-added data, 1995–2022 (10 advanced industries, ~$12T 2022 output). Commentary via NEI Review, Nanjing University Institute of Entrepreneurs.