With strong and solid industry foundation, Qingdao has basically established eight industrial bases of electronic information, automobile, ship and ocean engineering, locomotive, petrochemicals, steel, textile and clothing, biology and new material. The output of household electric refrigerator and color TV take up 18.4% and 10.4% respectively of the total national output. In 2008, added value of the industrial enterprises above the designated scale exceeded 200 billion Yuan, up to 12.1%; the proportion between light and heavy industry was 43.6:56.4; the capital maintenance and increment ratio reached 103.63%, and sales ratio was 96.96%. Total industrial output value of the industrial enterprises above the designated scale exceeded 800 billion Yuan, hi-tech industrial output value rose by 20.1%, taking up 46.31% of that of the industrial enterprises above the designated scale. In September 2008, Qingdao was cited as "China's Famous City of Manufacturing Industry" at the 2nd Asia Manufacturing Industry Forum.

In 2008, Qingdao's GDP reached 443.6 billion Yuan, up to 13.2% over the previous year; it has remained double-digit growth for the past twelve years. Three-industry structure was adjusted to 5.1:50.8:44.1 from 5.4:51.6:43 in the previous year. The gross national product per permanent capita for the year was 52,677 Yuan. Total financial revenue was 125.16 billion Yuan, up to 16.9%; general budget revenue of local government totaled 34.24 billion Yuan, up to 17%; general budget expenditure of local government totaled 36.94 billion Yuan, up to 15%. The growth rate of major expenditures used on agriculture, rural areas and farmers, public facilities, social security and other respects exceeded 30%. Fixed assets investment above the designated scale was 201.9 billion Yuan, up to 23.5%. The per-capita disposable income of urban residents and the per-capita net income of rural people have remained double-digit growth respectively for seven consecutive years and five consecutive years, and reached 20,464 Yuan and 8,509 Yuan. Customer price index rose by 4.7%; house selling price index rose by 5.1%; registered unemployment rate in cities and towns was 3.01%; Qingdao's GDP stably ranked among the top ten places among cities of mainland China, and its five county-level cities ranked among China's top 100 counties in terms of overall economic strength.

Qingdao's service industry develops rapidly. Centering on establishing the industrial structure focused on service economy, Qingdao tightly combines modern service industry development with private economy development, with international industry transfer, with brand economy development, with urban planning administration and with system & mechanism reform so as to plan and construct a group of service industry gathering zones, to promote the establishment of a group of service industry key projects and key enterprises, to make great efforts to cultivate a group of service industry famous brands. Qingdao is accelerating the development of nine key industries of tourism, logistics, finance, exhibition, commercial distribution, cultural creativity, intermediary service, real estate, science & technology and information, and headquarters economy. The ratio of service industry to the total output rises by over 1% every year. In 2008, added value of service industry reached 195.73 billion Yuan, up to 17.1%; the total volume of retail sales for social customer goods reached 146.48 billion Yuan, up to 22.2%, the biggest increase since 1996.

Qingdao is an important international trade port and marine transportation hub on the western shores of the Pacific Ocean. Qingdao port, founded in 1892, has container dock, crude oil dock, iron ore dock and state-level port technology center whose scale ranks among the top of mainland ports. It has established trade relationship with over 450 ports of 130 countries and regions. In 2008, the port handled more than 300 million tons of cargoes, ranking 10th in global ports, more than 200 million tons of foreign trade, and over 10 million standard containers.