Official data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to July, as new quality productive forces developed rapidly and the transition between old and new growth drivers progressed smoothly, investment in areas related to technological innovation and industrial upgrading maintained a solid growth trajectory, steadily improving the overall investment structure.
High-tech industry investment accelerates
Emerging industries are expanding at a faster pace, with high-tech sector investment growth picking up speed. During the first seven months, investment in high-tech industries rose 5.0% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points faster than the first half of the year, contributing 0.5 percentage points to overall investment growth.
Specifically, high-tech manufacturing investment increased 3.3% during the period, 0.1 percentage points higher than the January-June reading. Among sub-sectors, electronic circuit manufacturing investment surged 57.7%, with growth accelerating by 2.1 percentage points; integrated circuit manufacturing investment climbed 11.5%, up 2.7 percentage points from the first half; lithium-ion battery manufacturing investment advanced 23.0%; and electronic specialty materials manufacturing investment grew 9.4%.
Meanwhile, high-tech services investment rose 8.4% in the January-July window, 0.9 percentage points faster than the first half. Driven by rapid developments in artificial intelligence, information services investment expanded 19.2%, with growth quickening by 3.7 percentage points.
Intellectual property investment grows steadily at a solid pace
As innovation-driven development deepens, investment in intellectual property products continues to strengthen. From January to July, national investment in intellectual property products increased 9.1% year-on-year, accounting for 14.8% of total investment, up 2.1 percentage points from the same period last year, and contributing 1.2 percentage points to overall investment growth.
Equipment purchase investment growth quickens
The policy effects of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in programs continue to emerge, while the layout of AI computing infrastructure accelerates, supporting robust growth in equipment purchase investment. During the first seven months, investment in equipment and tool purchases rose 9.0% year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points faster than the first half, contributing 1.5 percentage points to total investment growth and representing 19.1% of all investment, 2.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Infrastructure investment in key areas performs well
The implementation of major national strategies and security capacity building projects is progressing steadily, with the modern infrastructure system represented by the "six networks" advancing rapidly, keeping investment in related fields on a sound growth path. From January to July, investment in internet and related services grew 41.3% year-on-year, 1.4 percentage points faster than the first half; air transport investment increased 15.7%, accelerating by 4.7 percentage points; water transport investment expanded 16.2%; and power supply investment rose 16.0%.
Industrial investment structure continues to optimize
With steady progress in building a modern industrial system and accelerated transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the composition of industrial investment is improving. In the first seven months, mining investment grew 3.3% year-on-year, contributing 0.2 percentage points to overall industrial investment growth. Equipment manufacturing investment rose 1.1%, adding 0.4 percentage points to total industrial investment. Within this segment, investment in railway, ship, aerospace, and other transport equipment manufacturing jumped 18.7%, while computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing investment advanced 7.8%, 1.3 percentage points faster than the first half.
Looking ahead, efforts will focus on implementing the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, accelerating fiscal spending and the use of bond funds, vigorously advancing major national strategy projects and security capacity building, promoting equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-ins, systematically pushing forward the "six networks" planning and construction, driving the scaled-up development of emerging pillar industries across the entire chain, accelerating the establishment of a modern industrial system, and coordinating investment in both physical assets and human capital. These measures aim to further optimize investment structure and efficiency, better leveraging effective investment's critical role in improving the supply structure.