On January 19th, China's 2025 macroeconomic report card was released, showing the full-year Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 140.1879 trillion yuan, a 5.0% increase over the previous year calculated at constant prices. This report card reveals a distinct characteristic of the Chinese economy: a clear trajectory "advancing through innovation." From breakthroughs in major national projects to the reshaping of countless industries, scientific and technological innovation has become the "key variable" driving steady and sustained economic progress.
The year 2025 marked the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan, with China's total economic output successfully surpassing the 140 trillion yuan threshold. Against the backdrop of a severely impacted global trade order and a sluggish worldwide economic recovery, the Chinese economy maintained a "stable" foundation, emerging as the most stable and reliable engine for global growth, contributing approximately 30% to world economic growth. Understanding China's 2025 economic performance requires looking beyond aggregate figures to discern structural transformation.
The pace of "advancement" is driven by innovation. The most distinctive feature of the Chinese economy this year is its "advancement through innovation." In 2025, China's intensity of research and development (R&D) expenditure reached 2.8% of GDP, an increase of 0.11 percentage points from the previous year, surpassing the average level of OECD countries for the first time. Correspondingly, data from the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that China's innovation index ranking broke into the global top ten for the first time.
The underlying "resilience" stems from the shift in growth drivers. Faced with pressure to maintain growth, China unwaveringly promoted high-quality development. Emerging drivers accumulated strength, effectively countering downward pressures. In 2025, the value-added of large-scale high-tech manufacturing as a proportion of the total value-added of large-scale industries rose to 17.1%.
The optimization of the foreign trade structure also testifies to the effectiveness of innovation-driven growth. While a diversified pattern for stabilizing foreign trade accelerated, high-tech, high-value-added products became the mainstay of China's export growth. The export value of high-tech products increased by 13.2% in 2025 compared to the previous year.
"Scientific and technological innovation has become a key driver of China's GDP growth, promoting effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative expansion of the economy," stated Zhu Qigui, Vice President of the China Academy of Financial Research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Distinguished Professor at the university. Behind the macro data lies the vivid practice of China's new development philosophy. From an economic scale of 140 trillion yuan to R&D intensity exceeding the OECD average, the Chinese economy in 2025 is using the key of "innovation" to unlock a new door to high-quality development.
If macro data outlines the economy's contours, then observing the resonance between technology and industry reveals the inner pulse of China's new economic dynamism. Major national projects demonstrate "hardcore technological strength." The successful maiden flight of the "Jiutian" drone, the Tianwen-2 probe embarking on its deep-space "star-chasing" journey, the official commissioning of the first electromagnetic aircraft launch system aircraft carrier, and the CR450 high-speed train setting new "China speed" records... 2025 saw frequent reports of success in key core technology areas, with an "eruption" of original and disruptive innovations. Behind these technological breakthroughs lies the continuous leap in China's hard technological prowess.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2025, China's total R&D expenditure reached 3.9262 trillion yuan, maintaining its position as the world's second-highest for many consecutive years; China became the first country to possess over 5 million domestic valid invention patents, with PCT international patent applications ranking first globally for six consecutive years, and the reserve of high-value patents in key core technology areas continuously strengthened.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly permeating countless industries. The emergence of DeepSeek in 2025 sparked global attention towards Chinese scientific innovation. Over the past year, AI technology has accelerated its transition from a "technical concept" to an "industrial reality." Lanxiang Shuke empowered clinical healthcare with AI, reconstructing the critical care system and improving time efficiency in pre-examination and triage scenarios by over 30%; Atour implemented an AI system to automatically calculate ingredient shelf life and print labels, achieving end-to-end management of food safety; Insilico Medicine is using AI to redefine the traditional drug discovery "rule" of "one billion dollars, ten years," significantly shortening R&D cycles... Artificial intelligence has become a "key variable" in enhancing industrial quality and efficiency.
"The deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, coupled with the intensified advancement of the 'AI+' initiative, has accelerated industrial innovation, application of results, and the cultivation and growth of emerging and future industries, injecting a vital source of water into stable economic growth," stated Kang Yi, Commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics.
The low-altitude economy is "soaring high," and embodied intelligence is "acting deftly," with the output of civilian drones and industrial robots increasing by 37.3% and 28% year-on-year, respectively. Including artificial intelligence, Chinese companies collectively broke through in numerous emerging sectors in 2025. New quality productive forces are not confined to emerging industries; through technological breakthroughs and digital-intelligent empowerment, traditional sectors are being revitalized. Currently, integrated applications of industrial internet comprehensively cover 41 major industrial categories, and the number of smart factories is steadily increasing.
Within the 2025 economic landscape, a new development coordinate system is clearly identifiable: the vertical axis represents scientific and technological innovation, signifying the "height" of China's economic development; the horizontal axis represents consumption, indicating the "breadth" of the Chinese economy. Together, they chart the dynamics and resilience of China's economic growth. Liu Shijin, former Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, offered an intuitive explanation of the relationship between economic growth and innovation: first, "height," which involves continuously improving total factor productivity and unlocking growth potential through technological progress, institutional reform, opening-up, and management enhancement; second, "breadth," which concerns whether social demand can keep pace with the enhancement of supply capacity. As innovation advances and technology continuously breaks through, only by stabilizing and expanding end-demand can innovative achievements be more smoothly transformed into growth and employment, becoming a lasting driver of economic growth.
On one hand, it is evident that the "height" of technology is expanding the boundaries of consumption. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2025, retail sales of new retail models like unattended stores and warehouse membership clubs maintained double-digit growth. The deep integration of digital technologies like artificial intelligence into consumption scenarios has powerfully driven the qualitative improvement and expansion of information consumption, with retail sales of communication and information services growing by over 10% compared to the previous year.
On the other hand, China is safeguarding stable economic operations through more proactive and impactful macroeconomic policies. Kang Yi stated that in 2026, China will deeply implement special actions to boost consumption and formulate plans to increase urban and rural residents' incomes. The application of new technologies will increase the supply of high-quality consumption goods, immersive and experiential consumption scenarios are being cultivated, and consumer rights protection is continuously strengthened—all of which will help unleash greater consumption potential.
"Recently, major international organizations have successively upgraded their growth forecasts for China, indicating the international community's optimistic outlook on China's economic development prospects. The Chinese economy is a vast ocean, not a small pond, capable of withstanding winds and waves, even storms. Challenges for the Chinese economy have never been absent, but opportunities have always been present," stated Kang Yi.
Comments