Abstract: As a core equipment with strategic significance, the breakthrough in key core technologies of the “Pillars of a Great Power” is not only an important engine for enhancing China’s international status, but also a cornerstone for ensuring China’s scientific and technological security. With the risk of supply chain disruptions for critical core components posing a serious threat to the high-quality development of our economy and even national security, the urgency for breakthrough in key core technology of the “Pillars of a Great Power” is becoming increasingly pronounced. Current research on breakthrough in key core technologies of the “Pillars of a Great Power” primarily focuses on the process of achieving these breakthroughs and the differential roles of the main actor involved. In reality, technological breakthroughs are deeply rooted in their contextual systems, yet existing research has overlooked the unique context of breakthrough in key core technologies of the “Pillars of a Great Power”. To this end, by choosing to conduct a longitudinal exploratory single-case study on heavy-duty gas turbines, based on the phased context of breakthroughs in key core technologies of the “Pillars of a Great Power”, delineates the process of breakthrough in key core technologies within the evolution of the innovation ecosystem, thereby expanding the theoretical research on the key core technology of the “Pillars of a Great Power”.