CSIC was formed by the Government of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1999 from companies spun off from CSSC, and is 100% owned by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of State Council.

CSIC's subsidiary, China Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited (CSICL), was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2008.

Ship building and repair enterprises and related equipment manufacturers formerly owned by CSSC in areas of Dalian, Tianjin, Wuhan, Kunming and Xi’an, together with majority of the institutes under China Ship Research & Development Academy, formed China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), which was founded on 1 July 1999 in Beijing.

[citation needed] This was part of the overall State Council initiative of 1 July 1999, under which the Chinese government split the top five Defense and Technology Corporations into ten new enterprises.

[6][7][8] In December 2020, the United States Department of Commerce added 25 research institutes affiliated with CSIC to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List due to their role in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.