Chinese high-tech manufacturers see profits jump 18.9% in July

Profits of China's major industrial firms in the high-tech manufacturing sector surged 18.9 percent year-on-year in July, helping narrow the decline in overall profits of industrial firms above designated size, official data showed on Wednesday.

Industrial enterprises with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) posted combined profits of 4.02 trillion yuan during the January-July period, down 1.7 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In July alone, profits of major industrial firms slipped 1.5 percent year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points narrower than the decline seen in June, marking the second straight month of narrower declines, the NBS data showed.

Robotic arms produce robots at a factory of Estun Automation in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, on April 7, 2025. Estun Automation is a leading enterprise in China's industrial robotics. From January to November 2024, the output of industrial robots in Nanjing exceeded 32,000 sets. Photo: VCG

Notably, profits of the high-tech manufacturing sector rebounded from a 0.9 percent year-on-year drop in June to an 18.9 percent year-on-year increase, lifting the overall profits of China's major industrial firms by 2.9 percentage points, according to the NBS.

Specifically, profits in the aerospace, aviation, and related equipment manufacturing industry surged by 40.9 percent year-on-year in July. In the semiconductor sector, stronger innovation capacity drove profits in integrated circuit manufacturing up by 176.1 percent year-on-year, semiconductor device-specific equipment manufacturing up by 104.5 percent, and discrete device manufacturing up by 27.1 percent.

Yu Weining, an NBS statistician, said that industrial production at firms above designated size maintained steady growth, and a series of policies to promote a reasonable rebound in prices were gradually implemented, driving a sustained recovery in corporate profitability, according to a statement posted on the NBS' website on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of 2025, China has expanded the coverage scope of its equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in program, leading to notable profit improvements in relevant industries, said Yu.

"The rapid growth of profits in the high-tech manufacturing sector is within expectations, which underscores the achievements of China's economic transformation and upgrading as well as high-quality development," Chen Fengying, a research fellow at the Beijing-based China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

A Political Bureau meeting of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held on July 30 called for efforts to accelerate the cultivation of emerging pillar industries with global competitiveness, and to promote the deep integration and development of sci-tech and industrial innovation.

Amid policy support, the electronic and electrical machinery specialized equipment manufacturing sector saw profits increase by 87.9 percent in July, while companies on the industrial chains of goods such as consumer electronics and home appliances also enjoyed noteworthy profit growth.

China has allocated 69 billion yuan in its third batch of ultra-long special treasury bond funds to support the country's consumer goods trade-in program, the Ministry of Finance said recently.

Last month, small and medium-sized enterprises recorded notable profit improvements. In July, profits for medium-sized industrial enterprises rebounded from a drop of 7.8 percent year-on-year in June to an increase of 1.8 percent year-on-year, while those of small enterprises shifted from a drop of 9.7 percent to an expansion of 0.5 percent, reflecting significant enhancements in profitability, per the NBS. 

In particular, private enterprises achieved 2.6 percent year-on-year profit growth in July, outperforming the overall average of all above-scale industrial enterprises by 4.1 percentage points.

The Private Sector Promotion Law, which aims to promote high-quality development of the private economy, took effect in May. It also played a positive role in boosting confidence among industrial enterprises and consolidating the foundation for an industrial economic recovery, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Amid multiple uncertainties in the external environment, domestic demand insufficiency, and supply-demand contradictions in certain industries, efforts should continue to maintain policy continuity, enhance flexibility and foresight, further expand domestic demand, strengthen innovation-driven development, vigorously cultivate new quality productive forces, promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and drive the sustained and healthy development of the industrial economy, Yu said.

(Global Times)