China's new economic momentum is growing strongly and new productivity is being released at an accelerated pace

In 2025, my country's new economic development momentum index will increase by 12.5% ​​over the previous year, and the pace of transformation and upgrading will accelerate; the "three new" economic added value will account for 18.39% of the gross domestic product (GDP), showing a trend of increasing year by year.

Since the beginning of this year, the structural optimization trend has become more obvious. In August, the added value of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing increased by 12.1% and 16.7% year-on-year respectively, 6.9 and 11.5 percentage points faster than the added value of all industries above designated size respectively. The manufacturing industry accelerated its move towards the middle and high end of the industrial value chain.

A series of data recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics show that new productive forces are accelerating their growth and growth, driving high-quality development increasingly powerfully, and China's economic momentum is becoming new and its structure is improving.

Create new economic advantages

How strong is the new kinetic energy? In the first half of the year, new driving forces represented by high-end manufacturing, digital economy, and modern service industries contributed more than 40% to economic growth. Since the second half of the year, this momentum has accelerated. In the first seven months, the profits of the integrated circuit industry, represented by computing chips and memory chips, increased 18.5 times year-on-year, contributing more than 80% of the profit growth of the entire electronics industry, and the dividends of new productivity development were accelerated. In August, new driving forces represented by high-tech manufacturing and digital product manufacturing contributed more than 60% to the growth of industries above designated size.

"The optimization and upgrading of China's economic structure is not only an inevitable requirement for high-quality development, but also the due meaning of improving the quality and efficiency of economic development." Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, previously stated at a press conference of the State Council Information Office that my country's economy maintains steady growth while the trend of structural optimization continues, which is conducive to shaping new advantages in economic development and also provides important support for the good development of the economy.

New advantages are reflected in the in-depth advancement of intelligent transformation.

Our country has firmly grasped the historical opportunity of the global artificial intelligence revolution, continued to increase capital investment, and innovative results continued to emerge. Artificial intelligence has become an "accelerator" for the growth of new driving forces. In the first half of the year, the amount of capital investment in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robots increased 1.2 times year-on-year. The average daily output of integrated circuits exceeded 1.5 billion units, and the average daily number of words used reached hundreds of billions. In August, the added value of integrated circuit manufacturing and optoelectronic device manufacturing industries increased by 101.5% and 36.1% respectively, and artificial intelligence drove the output of sensors, optical fibers and other products to increase by 42.6% and 20.7% respectively.

Recently, the 2026 World Robot Conference and the Second World Humanoid Robot Games were held one after another, demonstrating the "evolution" speed and strength of my country's robot industry. Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that my country's artificial intelligence has basically penetrated the entire chain of R&D and design, production and manufacturing, quality inspection and operation and maintenance, accelerating the "smart" upgrading of the industry. Through real-life training, the robot has started "operation mode" in production and manufacturing, emergency rescue, catering services and other scenarios.

New advantages are reflected in the continued deepening of green and low-carbon transformation.

New productivity itself is green productivity. A number of new industries and products that are in line with the green and low-carbon trend are growing rapidly. In August, the added value of bio-based material manufacturing, biomass gas production and supply industries and other industries increased by 16.5% and 15.1% year-on-year respectively, and lithium-ion batteries increased by 57.2%. Green transformation continues to advance.

Demand leads new supply

New kinetic energy is not only changing the production side, but also profoundly reshaping the demand pattern.

The "intellectual content" and "green content" of the consumer market continue to increase. In the first eight months, the retail sales of wearable smart devices in units above designated size maintained rapid growth, and the retail sales of high-energy-efficiency home appliances also grew by more than 25%. In August, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles further rose to 65.2%, setting another record high.

The changes in investment structure are also intriguing. Against the background of the overall decline in investment growth, funds are accelerating to gather in advanced manufacturing, digital economy, green and low-carbon and other fields, and the focus of corporate investment is also shifting to innovation links such as R&D and design. In the first eight months of this year, investment in intellectual property products increased by 9.2% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the previous seven months; it accounted for 15.2% of all investment, an increase of 2.3 percentage points year-on-year. Investment in high-tech industries increased by 5.2% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points faster than in the previous seven months, and the cumulative growth rate accelerated for three consecutive months. Investment in artificial intelligence-related industrial chains has accelerated. In the first eight months, investment in electronic special materials manufacturing and integrated circuit manufacturing increased by 8.5% and 12.0% respectively.

The foreign trade pattern is also quietly being rewritten. In the first half of the year, my country's import and export of computing hardware such as electronic components and computer parts increased by 56.6% year-on-year, and the export of intelligent bionic robots deeply integrated with AI technology exceeded 10,000 units. In the first eight months, my country's automobile exports increased by 47.1% year-on-year, and the exports of servers, optical modules, and electronic components all achieved double-digit growth. High-end intelligence, green and low-carbon have become the new business cards of China’s foreign trade.

The Political Bureau meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held on July 30 pointed out that the planning and construction of the "six networks" should be solidly promoted. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission has held intensive meetings to study and improve the diversified investment and financing model of the "Six Networks" and make arrangements to accelerate the construction of major engineering projects. Data show that in the first eight months of this year, investment in the Internet and related service industries related to the "Six Networks" increased by 42% year-on-year, investment in the air transportation industry and water transportation industry increased by 16.7% and 14.7% respectively, and investment in the power supply industry increased by 12.7%.

"Only by focusing on expanding effective demand can we provide more application scenarios and platform carriers for new productivity." Wei Qijia, a researcher at the National Information Center of the National Development and Reform Commission, believes that the construction of "Six Networks" is a systematic project related to the basic capabilities of high-quality development. We must follow the laws of engineering construction, project construction and industrial development to promote the construction of "Six Networks" to achieve greater economic and social benefits, and provide solid support for the development and growth of new productivity.

Innovation opens up new space

New productivity is led by innovation and has the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency and high quality. my country insists on relying on innovation to drive development. In 2025, the total social R&D investment will exceed 3.9 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world. The intensity of R&D investment exceeds the average level of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states for the first time. Innovations in artificial intelligence, quantum communications, chip R&D and other fields have achieved fruitful results. Our country is making great strides from a global manufacturing center to a global innovation center.

Facing the future, the "15th Five-Year Plan" outline regards building a modern industrial system and accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance as important strategic tasks, emphasizing the use of scientific and technological innovation to lead industrial upgrading, using digital intelligence and green transformation as an important breakthrough, and developing new productive forces according to local conditions. Recently, a number of national-level special plans have been launched for the development of circular economy, green and low-carbon industrial development, and accelerated agricultural and rural modernization, and the top-level designs for the development of new productive forces in various fields have been increasingly improved.

"In addition to technical factors, the cultivation process of new productivity is closely related to supporting systems, industrial development environment, and the degree of industrial chain synergy. These factors often play a vital role in the sustainable development of new productivity." Wei Qijia said that cultivating new productivity cannot only focus on a single breakthrough in technology research and development, but also needs to build a comprehensive support system from the system level. , improve the institutional rules for protecting innovation, leave more room for growth for new business entities, clear the connection points of "basic research - technology transformation - large-scale industrialization", promote upstream and downstream entities to share innovation resources and share innovation risks, and create an emerging industry ecosystem with clear division of labor and close linkage, so that technological innovation achievements can truly take root and be transformed into actual driving forces for economic growth.

Scenario cultivation and openness are important starting points for promoting the development of new productive forces. Yao Jun, director of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that we will do a good job in cultivating scenarios and accelerate the large-scale application of new technologies, new products and new scenarios. Carry out large-scale application demonstrations of new technologies, new products and new scenarios in the manufacturing industry, accelerate the cultivation of major application scenarios such as "5G+", "Artificial Intelligence +", "Robotics +", "Industrial Internet +" and "Beidou +", improve the selection of landmark projects, release of lists of new technologies, new products and new scenarios, supply and demand docking and other mechanisms, and promote the implementation of industrialization and large-scale application in related fields.

Wei Qijia said that stimulating the endogenous growth momentum of consumption should be the key focus to boost consumption and provide more demand space for new and innovative forces. For example, we should speed up the cultivation and construction of new consumption scenarios, expand the supply of new types of consumption such as smart and green products, and promote a better connection between residents' consumption upgrade needs and new products and services. In turn, the continued expansion of market demand will feed back the iterative upgrade of new technologies in new fields, forming a virtuous cycle in which demand drives supply and supply creates demand. (Reporter Xiong Li)