As China's premier economic powerhouse, Shanghai has delivered a robust performance report card. On January 21, data released by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics showed that, based on preliminary calculations, the city's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 5,670.871 billion yuan in 2025. This marks the first time Shanghai's GDP has surpassed the 5.6 trillion yuan threshold, solidifying its position as the top-ranked city nationwide. In terms of growth rate, the GDP increased by 5.4% year-on-year, exceeding the national average of 5% and representing a 0.4 percentage point improvement over 2024. The "quality" of this growth rate is particularly noteworthy. The larger an economy's scale, the more significant the absolute increment corresponding to each percentage point of growth becomes. In 2025, Shanghai generated over 15.5 billion yuan in GDP daily, with its single-day economic output already equivalent to the annual total of some small and medium-sized cities. Sustaining relatively rapid growth for such a metropolis requires not only strong momentum but also tests the system's balancing capabilities.
More importantly, the acceleration of Shanghai's economic growth is underpinned by profound structural changes. Ma Haiqian, Vice President of the Shanghai Academy of Development and Reform, pointed out that the information services industry contributed to over 30% of Shanghai's economic growth. The combined scale of the three leading industries—integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence—historically broke through the 2 trillion yuan mark, forming a solid, high-tech foundation. It can be said that the acceleration of China's leading economic city does not rely on the simple input of traditional factors but stems from a systematic shift in growth drivers. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Shanghai's expenditure on research and development (R&D) as a proportion of its GDP consistently remained above 4.5%. This intensity ranks among the highest nationally and reaches the top tier of global innovative cities. Shanghai has persisted with long-term investment and strategic positioning, particularly in strategic emerging industries like biomedicine and integrated circuits. A Shanghai official once told Sanlihe that in these critical sectors, Shanghai is committed to "persistent investing and patient waiting." This sustained investment in basic research and core technologies has accumulated deep reserves for industrial upgrading.
The long-term approach to R&D investment has now translated into substantive breakthroughs in industrial capability and scale. Data shows that the total industrial output value of Shanghai's three leading industries increased by 9.6% year-on-year in 2025. During the same period, the value-added of industrial enterprises above a designated size in the city grew by 5.1%, with the total output value of strategic emerging industries in the industrial sector rising by 6.5%, accounting for 45% of the total output value of large-scale industries. Shen Kaiyan, Director of the Institute of Economics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, stated that this signifies the three leading industries have transitioned from "leading and driving" to becoming "pillar supports," acting as the "core ballast" for Shanghai's stable economic growth. This shift reflects the comprehensive embodiment of new quality productive forces gradually taking shape, continuous breakthroughs across the entire innovation chain, and the accelerated release of industrial cluster effects.
In the field of integrated circuits, Shanghai's agglomeration effect is particularly prominent. Currently, the number of Shanghai-based integrated circuit companies listed on the STAR Market ranks first in the country. The city is home to over 1,200 enterprises in the industrial chain, gathering approximately 40% of the nation's industry talent and nearly 50% of its industrial innovation resources. Shanghai's competitiveness in this area radiates globally, becoming a strong force driving foreign trade growth. In 2025, Shanghai's total foreign trade import and export value reached a record high of 4.51 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%. Exports amounted to 2.02 trillion yuan, surging by 10.8%. This represents not just quantitative expansion but also reflects industrial structure upgrading driven by innovation. Exports of high-tech products, such as surgical robots, grew rapidly, while exports of high-end manufacturing "new three" items, including electric vehicles, surpassed the 100 billion yuan mark. Statistics from Shanghai Customs show that in 2025, Shanghai's imports and exports with emerging markets like Africa, India, and ASEAN achieved double-digit growth. New business forms, such as cross-border e-commerce and bonded maintenance, flourished, becoming new drivers for optimizing the trade structure.
Shen Kaiyan indicated that Shanghai's trade facilitation and hub functions are continuously upgrading, injecting momentum for foreign trade to accelerate. On one hand, hardware aspects like port efficiency, shipping route networks, and green customs clearance are constantly being improved. On the other hand, policy software systems, including customs clearance models and tax rebate settlements, are being optimized, tangibly enhancing the sense of benefit for enterprises. Shanghai's economic report card for 2025 demonstrates the resilience, vitality, and potential of a megacity developing in a complex environment. The path explored by Shanghai will provide a practical reference for the high-quality development of more Chinese cities.
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