Economic Watch: China's central SOEs harness innovation to foster new growth drivers

Pang Xiaogang, deputy head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council, and SASAC officials Lin Qingmiao and Zhang Jianlong attend a press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) on high-quality development of state-owned assets and central state-owned enterprises in 2025, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly administered by the central government have intensified moves to explore the innovation frontier, with robust tech investment and brisk adoption of new technologies, in a bid to develop more competitive, world-class enterprises.

Central SOEs invested 1.1 trillion yuan (about 157.69 billion U.S. dollars) in research and development (R&D) in 2025, official data showed on Wednesday.

The R&D spending has remained above 1 trillion yuan for four consecutive years, Pang Xiaogang, deputy head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, told a press conference.

China's central SOEs have played an important role in advancing key technologies, fostering strategic emerging industries, and developing new quality productive forces.

In 2025, central SOEs invested 2.5 trillion yuan in strategic emerging industries, accounting for 41.8 percent of their total investment. Their investment and development have boosted the growth across upstream and downstream enterprises along industrial chains, providing strong support for China's economic and social development, according to the press conference.

Technological innovation has been placed in a more prominent position, Pang said.

Central SOEs have pressed ahead with the "AI Plus" initiative, achieving notable progress in key areas including applications, computing power, data and large models. Development has accelerated in sectors such as integrated circuits, biotechnology and new energy vehicles, while advantages in next-generation mobile communications and high-end equipment manufacturing have been further consolidated.

Official data showed that the R&D intensity of central SOEs reached 2.86 percent in 2025, with a total of 1.44 million R&D personnel.

As part of efforts to strengthen innovation coordination, central SOEs have also launched initiatives to promote integrated development along industrial chains, driving collaboration among about 16,000 upstream and downstream entities. Through measures such as venture capital funds, more social capital has also been leveraged to support long-term investment in innovation.

Looking ahead, Pang said central SOEs will step up efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core and key technologies, raise the share of spending on basic research, and deliver more original and leading scientific and technological achievements.

Efforts will also be made to accelerate the cultivation of strategic emerging and future industries, and to better integrate the innovation, industrial and capital chains to strengthen the national innovation system.

Cultivating and developing new quality productive forces will remain a key focus of future work, Pang said, with the goal of accelerating the development of more world-class enterprises.

Wednesday's data also showed that central SOEs posted a combined total profit of 2.5 trillion yuan in 2025. By the end of last year, their total assets had exceeded 95 trillion yuan, representing a 6.9 percent average annual increase during the 2021-2025 period. ■