Dozens of UBTECH industrial humanoid robots carry out training tasks at a smart factory in the Qianwan New Area in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, on March 1, 2025. Photo: VCG

In the first eight months of this year, the profits made by China's high-tech manufacturing enterprises above the designated size surged 54.7 percent year-on-year, which is 39 percentage points faster than the overall growth rate for major industrial enterprises, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday, highlighting the growing role of new growth drivers in supporting the economy.

The strong performance came as profits at industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 5.27 trillion yuan ($740 billion) during the January-August period, up 15.7 percent year-on-year.

The accelerated construction of computing-power infrastructure in the country has provided a strong boost. Profits in optical fiber manufacturing surged 5.3 times year-on-year, while profits in computer manufacturing and computer peripheral equipment manufacturing rose 3.9 times and 2.6 times, respectively, the NBS said.

Among the standout sectors, the electronics industry provided a particularly strong boost. Profits in the sector more than doubled from a year earlier, rising 110 percent, accounting for 62 percent of the overall profit growth among industrial enterprises above the designated size, the NBS data showed.

Rising demand for semiconductors driven by new-energy vehicles, the Internet of Things and computing data centers helped boost profits in many industrial sectors, with optoelectronic component manufacturing and semiconductor discrete device manufacturing up 72 percent and 51.8 percent, respectively. Rapid growth in electronic basic materials also drove profits in electronic special materials manufacturing up 2.3 times.

The figures underscore a continued shift in the drivers of Chinese economy toward technology-intensive and higher-value-added sectors, as industries linked to artificial intelligence, computing power and advanced manufacturing expand rapidly, observers noted.

The trend was already evident earlier in the year. In its assessment of January-July industrial profits, the NBS said accelerating adoption of "AI Plus" strategy and continued expansion in computing-power demand had boosted demand and prices for related products, driving rapid profit growth in electronics linked to AI production and applications.

China's persistent push to foster new quality productive forces, accelerate the integration of technological and industrial innovation, and move manufacturing toward higher-end, smarter and more digitalized production, has provided new momentum for high-quality industrial development, observers said.

Global Times