heavy industry

1. Automobile, mining, petroleum, and steel industries which require very large capital investment in weighty machinery and huge plants.

2. A section of an economy's secondary industry characterized by capital-intensive and less labor-intensive operations. One way of characterizing heavy industry is that one unit of currency will buy more heavy industry-produced products than it would buy light industry-produced products (for example, more steel can be purchased for $1 than pharmaceuticals). Products made by an economy's heavy industry tend are less likely to be targeted toward end consumers. Steel manufacturing and chemical manufacturing are two types of heavy industries. See also light industry.