A workshop of a recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturing company is seen in Rongcheng, East China's Shandong Province on November 17, 2025. Local producers are ramping up efforts to seize international market opportunities with technological innovation. Photo: VCG

Private firms accounted for more than 90 percent of China's high-tech enterprises as of the end of 2024. Their leading role in scientific and technological innovation continues to grow, cementing their status as a vital role of new quality productive forces, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday, citing a study.

As of the end of 2024, private enterprises accounted for more than 80 percent of both the specialized, refined characteristic and novel "little giant" firms as well as companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. For the first time, the group became the largest participant in China's high-tech product imports and exports with a 48.5 percent share, according to the study titled China Private Enterprises Social Responsibility Report (2025).

The report was issued on Tuesday by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province, the CCTV report noted. The result was based on responses from 33,988 private enterprises that participated in the evaluation, including ACFIC executive committee enterprises, listed companies and the top 500 Chinese private enterprises.

The top 1,000 private enterprises in terms of research and development (R&D) spending invested 1.43 trillion yuan ($202.8 billion) on such activities, with 112 of them ranking among the global top 1,000 in R&D spending, according to the report. The data also showed that 71.6 percent of private enterprises achieved year-on-year growth in R&D investment.

Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the report highlighted private companies' pivotal role in the national push for greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology as well as building the country into a sci-tech powerhouse. 

Private companies, which are flexible in responding to market demand and willing to take higher investment risks, could actively explore the integrated development of scientific-technological innovation and industrial innovation in such sectors as artificial intelligence, big data, intelligent driving, and biotechnology, analysts said. 

"Private companies could drive the demonstration and application of new technologies, new products and new scenarios, making themselves a prominent force in the development of new quality productive forces," Wang said. China's high-quality economic development also offers a "historical chance" for private firms to embark on industrial upgrading and further move up the global value chain. 

The report also highlighted private enterprises' role in stabilizing employment and driving green transformation. According to the survey, participating private firms have generated 12.75 million jobs, with 71.4 percent maintaining stable or expanding workforce levels, the report said.

One of the main characteristics of Chinese private enterprises fulfilling their social responsibilities is a result of policy effect, the report said. In recent years, relevant policies and measures on the sustainable development of private enterprises introduced by the central and local governments have provided directional guidance for private enterprises in fulfilling their social responsibilities, thereby stimulating their endogenous motivation, said the report.

Global Times