This article only represents the author's own views.
Founded by renowned entrepreneur Cao Dewang and made famous by the 2019 documentary “American Factory,” Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co. Ltd. (3606.HK; 600660.SH) is a classic story of the “Made in China” phenomenon going global. Starting from a nearly bankrupt factory in a small town in South China’s Fujian province, Cao has built his empire into one of the world’s leading suppliers of glass to the global automotive industry. But the company, once hailed as a model of China-U.S. manufacturing cooperation for its decision to build a factory in the U.S., became mired in scrutiny from U.S. regulators last year. Meanwhile, despite broader challenges to “China-U.S. cooperation” posed by Donald Trump’s tariff wars, Fuyao still managed to deliver strong first-quarter results earlier this month.
The glass titan reported revenue of 9.91 billion yuan ($1.36 billion) for the quarter, up 12.16% year-on-year, while its profit surged by 46% to 2.03 billion yuan. It attributed the strong profit growth to the combination of revenue expansion and favorable foreign exchange gains. Encouraged by the results, investors bid up Fuyao’s Hong Kong-listed shares by nearly 9% in the two days after the report’s release, recovering most of the stock’s losses incurred during the ongoing tariff war. The stock has been on a roll in 2025, up about 30% year-to-date.