Robotic arms produce robots at a factory of Estun Automation in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: VCG

New- and high-tech sectors continued to drive China's industrial recovery in October, with strong year‑on‑year gains across high-end manufacturing and digital economy, according to data released by the State Taxation Administration on Monday. 

Chinese enterprises have steadily increased their investment in innovation, while the development of new quality productive forces accelerated in October of 2025. The latest value-added tax (VAT) invoice data showed that sales revenue for intellectual property-intensive industries grew by 13.6 percent year‑on‑year in October, maintaining a rapid pace of expansion, the CCTV News reported.

During the period, sales revenue for the high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing industry recorded double-digit growth, underscoring broad-based momentum in innovation-led sectors, according to the data.

Bolstered by China accelerated "AI Plus" initiative, sales revenue for integrated circuit manufacturing, robot manufacturing and drone manufacturing increased by 32.5 percent, 41.7 percent and 38.4 percent year‑on‑year, respectively.

High‑end manufacturing continued to be a powerful engine of industrial growth. Revenue for the equipment manufacturing sector increased 7.3 percent year‑on‑year in October — above the overall manufacturing average for the year — and now accounts for nearly half of total manufacturing sales. 

Within the sector, computer and communication equipment manufacturing grew 10.1 percent, shipbuilding and related equipment 24.4 percent and battery manufacturing 27.2 percent, according to data.

Core digital economy industries saw sales revenue climb 8.5 percent year‑on‑year, while corporate procurement of digital technologies rose 9.6 percent, signaling continued progress in both digital industrialization and industrial digitalization. 

Sale revenues of digital product service providers and digital technology application firms surged 10.2 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively, highlighting the expanding role of digital consumption in supporting economic growth.

The VAT invoice data in October demonstrated that the effectiveness of China's industrial structure upgrading and economic development transformation, said Zhu Qing, a professor of finance at Renmin University of China. He noted that the "AI Plus" initiative has driven the continued growth of cutting-edge industries, and the deep integration of digital technology with the real economy has provided strong and sustainable momentum for high-quality economic development, highlighting the solid foundation and broad space for China's economic transformation and upgrading.

Global Times