Industrial sector puts up solid half

China's industrial sector has maintained a steady recovery momentum in the first half, with equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing posting rapid growth despite challenges and external uncertainties, officials and experts said.

Their comments came after data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday that China's industrial output, a gauge of activity in manufacturing, mining and utilities, grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first six months. The figure rose 6.8 percent year-on-year in June after a 5.8 percent growth in May.

Equipment manufacturing output surged 10.2 percent year-on-year while high-tech manufacturing jumped 9.5 percent — 3.8 percentage points and 3.1 percentage points higher than that of overall industrial output, respectively, during the period.

Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the NBS, said at a news conference in Beijing that the country has attached great importance to developing new quality productive forces, bolstering the integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.

Sheng said emerging industries and the digital economy have witnessed robust growth, while the output of new energy vehicles and lithium-ion batteries rose more than 30 percent and 53.3 percent year-on-year, respectively, in the first half.

Pan Helin, a member of the Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy, which is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the recovery of industrial production has accelerated as the country has rolled out a series of policy measures to boost innovation and optimize the business environment.

"The high-tech sector and high-end equipment manufacturing are picking up steam, which shows that the Chinese economy is transitioning toward high-quality and innovation-led growth," Pan said, adding that emerging industries, enterprises' intelligent transformation and digital infrastructure have become new engines bolstering growth of industry.

Luo Zhongwei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Industrial Economics, said that China's high-tech manufacturing sector has become a cornerstone in promoting high-quality economic growth, helping the country gain an upper hand in increasingly fierce international competition, and strengthen its capacity to withstand external risks and shocks.

Noting that sci-tech innovation is crucial for cultivating new growth engines and competitive advantages, Luo added that it is of vital significance to push the manufacturing sector toward higher-end, smarter and greener production through the adoption of new-generation information technologies, including artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and the internet of things.

More efforts should also be made to increase investment in technological frontiers and vigorously develop strategic emerging sectors and future-oriented industries, including AI, quantum computing, biotechnology, new energy and new materials, he added.

China's future economic growth will be increasingly propelled by smart manufacturing, the digital economy and green technology, and the country has demonstrated immense potential for industrial transformation, said Norbert Meyring, head of industrial manufacturing and automotive sector at KPMG China.

"China's focus on nurturing new quality productive forces marks a strategic shift from scale-driven growth to innovation-led and sustainable development. This approach leverages cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, green tech and advanced manufacturing to upgrade industries and drive high-quality economic expansion," Meyring said.

He added that China's attractiveness to foreign businesses remains fundamentally robust, as the country's vast consumer base and integrated industrial ecosystem remain irreplaceable for companies' global business expansion, especially in advanced sectors like EVs, green tech and digital services.

By giving play to the leading role of enterprises in bolstering sci-tech innovation as well as stimulating their innovation vitality, the country could speed up the formation of sound institutions and mechanisms for fostering new quality productive forces, said Li Dongsheng, founder and chairman of Chinese consumer electronics maker TCL Technology Group Corp.