Xinjiang government is the minority shareholder of the holding company: Ba Yi Iron and Steel Group.

The steel plant in Ürümqi (Chinese: 新疆八一钢铁总厂) was founded in 1951[4] by the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

A subsidiary was incorporated in 2000 to float the main steel manufacturing business in the stock exchange.

Baosteel Group acquired 69.56% stake of the company by injecting new share capital into the group (for CN¥3 billion), diluting the stake of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to 15%.

The company was put under the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) entity list by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over concerns of Uyghur minorities in Xinjiang.