A BYD Yangwang U8 is on display at the 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) International Auto Show. Photo by Liu Xudong

Pingshan-headquartered BYD has muscled its way onto this year’s TIME100 Most Influential Companies list, which spotlights 100 companies making an extraordinary impact around the world.

The recently released list is sorted into five categories: pioneers, leaders, innovators, titans, and disrupters. Tech heavyweight Huawei and Transsion, also from Shenzhen, were included in the innovators category, and new energy vehicle (NEV) giant BYD was listed in the titans category.

The Time magazine attributed BYD’s success to its manufacturing strength, noting, “Last year, BYD replaced Tesla as the world’s largest electric-car maker, and a significant factor behind this achievement is the company’s production of almost all its components, including electric motors, dashboards, bodywork, headlights, and crucial batteries.”

TIME100 highlighted Transsion’s immense success in smartphones. The firm’s Infinix, Tecno, and Itel brands dominate emerging markets in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. TIME said that Transsion is the largest seller of smartphones in Africa and is expanding in the Middle East and South Asia. In 2023, the company shipped 95 million phones, up almost 31% from 2022, according to the International Data Corp., compared with Apple’s 3.7% growth.

Time highlighted Huawei’s restructuring of its supply chain, noting that Huawei Cloud is providing data architecture for more than 170 countries and regions to drive the generative AI revolution.

The inclusion of the three Shenzhen firms demonstrates that Shenzhen insists on building a modern industrial system led by scientific and technological innovation, continuously forming new momentum and advantages for development, and enhancing the international competitiveness of industries, said Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.