In the nineties the development of Hungarian industry was first disappointing, but later it was definitely rapid and successful. Several publication have described the process of this industrial transition in general as well as in the light of the foreign market performance of Hungarian industry. However, the majority of the analyses were based on stistical surveys and the participants of the processes were somewhat neglected. For this reason the present study examines the influence of major corporate participants and that of the government on the development of the industry, as well as their behaviour, and conclusions are drawn as regards the strategic potentials of Hungarian industry after 2003 and 2004. First the study offers an overview of the most important corporate participants of the Hungarian industry, then it seperately discusses the peculiarities of the market presence of foreign industrial firms, in particular to what extent the European Union's ambitions, taking shape from the year 2000, aiming at improving competitiveness can be reflected in Hungarian economic policy. Thus the question is whether we can expect the revival, to some extent, of Hungarian industrial policy which has appeared to be lifeless since 1996, and whether we can expect state participation in the promotion of the development of Hungarian industry which should be of European standards and yet more active than round the turn of the century.