[Neo-chemical industry: a new perspective for understanding biomanufacturing industry]

Biomanufacturing is transitioning from laboratory innovation to industrial-scale production. However, a conceptual ambiguity persists regarding its industrial nature: is it a cutting-edge biotechnology or an asset-heavy manufacturing industry This ambiguity has led to misaligned expectations, inadequate policy support, and increased developmental pressure on enterprises. Drawing on the world's first full-chain industrialization of l-alanine via anaerobic fermentation at a 10 000 ton scale, this article introduced the "neo-chemical industry" as an academic perspective for understanding biomanufacturing. This perspective reconceptualizes biomanufacturing as a paradigm reconfiguration of the chemical industry enabled by synthetic biology. This paper demonstrated that biomanufacturing inherently follows the fundamental principles of chemical engineering, elucidates the core connotations of biomanufacturing through the "neo-chemical industry" perspective, and constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework-feedstock, process, and technology-to systematically examine the industrialization challenges and strategic pathways for developing biomanufacturing. By bridging the cognitive gap between biotechnology and the chemical industry, this perspective article offered an intuitive framework for understanding biomanufacturing as a future-oriented industry. Just as the concept of "new energy" has facilitated the public's understanding of the energy transition, the "neo-chemical industry" perspective may help stakeholders recognize the essence and value of biomanufacturing: it concerns not only industrial upgrading but also the sustainable use of Earth's resources and harmonious coexistence with nature within the realm of material production.