Abstract:  Individual champion enterprises are regarded as the "pearls" on the manufacturing industry′s crown, not only because they are the "leaders" in their respective manufacturing subfields, but also because they are the "pioneers" in building a manufacturing powerhouse, and they will play an increasingly prominent role in creating a high-tech manufacturing base in China. Taking A-share manufacturing listed companies as the research object, this paper accurately identified the individual champion enterprises listed on the stock market, and used the quasi-natural experiment method to study the causal effects and channels of intelligent manufacturing empowering the cultivation of individual champion enterprises. The results showed that: (1) intelligent manufacturing can significantly empower the cultivation of individual champion enterprises, among which digital transformation, financing constraint alleviation, and substantive innovation are three important channels; (2) the five types of intelligent manufacturing sub-models can empower the cultivation of individual champion enterprises to varying degrees; (3) the empowering effect of intelligent manufacturing on champion demonstration enterprises is the most obvious; (4) intelligent manufacturing has a clear target for enterprises and industries; and (5) high regional digital economic level, sufficient regional financial supply and reserves, and strong regional innovation environment can provide good external conditions for intelligent manufacturing to empower the cultivation of individual champion enterprises. This paper has theoretically confirmed that intelligent manufacturing can empower the cultivation of individual champion enterprises, and it will also provide policy inspiration for vigorously promoting the strategic layout of intelligent manufacturing to promote efficient development of enterprises.

Key words: intelligent manufacturing, individual champion enterprise, action channel, structural analysis, quasi natural experiment