China's economy achieved a positive start in the first quarter of 2026. Notably, significant progress has been made in cultivating new quality productive forces, with continuous advancements in high-end, intelligent, green, and new-type development. High-speed growth has been realized in areas such as high-tech manufacturing, the digital economy, green industries, and the upgrading of traditional industries, as the industrial structure steadily progresses towards the higher end of the value chain.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first quarter, the nation's fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) reached 10.2708 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%, compared to a decline of 3.8% for the full previous year. Investment in emerging sectors showed strong growth momentum. Industrial upgrading progressed steadily, the leading role of technological innovation strengthened, and the effectiveness of new quality productive forces continued to become apparent. Emerging industries, represented by the low-altitude economy, and future industries, represented by embodied AI and 6G, are accelerating their layout, gradually becoming new engines for investment growth.
An expert stated that China's strategy for developing new quality productive forces has begun to yield results in multiple areas. Industries related to new quality productive forces have become the fastest-growing and most core driving force for China's economic growth in the first quarter. This indicates that the development of China's new quality productive forces has entered an acceleration phase.
The steady development of new quality productive forces in the first quarter was emphasized by officials. Promoting high-quality development necessitates developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions. Since a key national congress, China has leveraged the advantages of its national system for mobilizing resources, continuously increased R&D investment, accelerated breakthroughs in key core technologies, and used technological innovation to lead industrial innovation. New quality productive forces have developed steadily, and new growth drivers have continuously expanded. The R&D intensity reached 2.8% in 2025, surpassing the OECD average for the first time. The steady development of new quality productive forces and the growth of new动能 have provided solid support for the stable operation of the national economy in a complex environment and its development towards new and superior quality.
In the first quarter of this year, new achievements were made in cultivating new quality productive forces, mainly manifested in four aspects. First is high-end development, with rapid growth in high-end manufacturing and modern services. Second is intelligent development, where intelligentization plays an increasingly strong leading role. Third is green development, with green transformation spawning new growth points. Fourth is new-type development, where traditional industries are revitalized and upgraded.
Specifically, high-end manufacturing and modern services developed rapidly. In the first quarter, the value added of high-tech manufacturing above the designated size increased by 12.5% year-on-year, and its proportion in the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size rose to 16.9%, contributing 2 percentage points to the growth of industrial output above the designated size. In modern services, the value added of information transmission, software and information technology services, and leasing and business services increased by 10.6% and 12.2% year-on-year respectively in the first quarter, with their combined contribution to economic growth approaching 25%.
While industrial high-endization steadily improved, the leading role of intelligent development continued to strengthen. In the first quarter, the value added of digital product manufacturing above the designated size increased by 11.2% year-on-year. Industries directly related to the production and application of AI, such as electronic specialty materials manufacturing and integrated circuit manufacturing, saw their value added grow by 32.5% and 49.4% respectively.
Building on the simultaneous advancement of high-end and intelligent development, green transformation generated new growth points. Officials stated that in the first quarter, the output of products like lithium-ion batteries and wind turbine generators grew rapidly, increasing by 40.8% and 30.1% year-on-year respectively. Exports of the "new three" products continued their high-speed growth, with electric vehicle exports growing by 77.5%. The development of China's new energy industry, while serving its own economic development, has contributed more Chinese strength to the global green and low-carbon transition.
Furthermore, traditional industries gained new vitality. The transformation of traditional industries towards new models is an important source for the growth of new quality productive forces. In the first quarter, investment in equipment, tools, and器具 purchases increased by 13.9% year-on-year.
Regarding the significance of new quality productive forces for high-quality economic development, an economist noted that new quality productive forces are driving the industrial structure to leap towards the high end of the value chain, promoting a transformation of the economy from quantitative change to qualitative change. In the first quarter, the output of high-tech and high-value-added products such as robot reducers and memory chips achieved high growth rates exceeding 40%. Technological changes like AI have accelerated the deployment of new technologies and products in industries like consumer electronics,助推 the production and supply structures to rapidly advance towards the mid-to-high end of the value chain.
The economist further pointed out that cultivating new quality productive forces strengthens new growth engines and injects new动能 into sustained economic growth. The development of new quality productive forces has given rise to a batch of emerging and future industries, such as the low-altitude economy, embodied AI, and 6G. Investment in these areas maintains relatively fast growth, gradually becoming new engines for investment growth. Simultaneously, new quality productive forces continuously enhance the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains, solidifying the strategic foundation for high-quality development. They also persistently optimize the economic structure, improve total factor productivity, and promote a fundamental shift in the mode of economic growth. The fact that high-tech manufacturing contributed over half of the industrial profit growth in the first quarter fully illustrates that the core status of innovation in economic growth is continuously being consolidated.
Another expert also indicated that new quality productive forces can both increase the added value of products and services in existing industries and create new economies, new scenarios, and new demands, providing incremental support for economic development. "At the same time, in the employment sector, new quality productive forces, on one hand, promote efficiency improvements in existing industries, increasing the value created per job position; on the other hand, they continuously create new employment positions by developing new markets, new demands, and new products."
Looking ahead, based on the current positive development trend of new quality productive forces and aligned with national top-level strategic部署, the cultivation of new quality productive forces in China will further clarify its direction and deepen continuously. A key party plenum made major部署 for scientific and technological innovation during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, explicitly proposing to "accelerate high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, leading the development of new quality productive forces."
In the view of one expert, the development of China's new quality productive forces benefits, first, from strong policy support; second, China has a solid "foundation" for developing new quality productive forces, possessing a complete industrial supply chain and ample talent reserves, with domestic enterprises also showing outstanding capability in technology application and innovation; third, domestic entrepreneurs have a strong willingness to innovate, being among the groups globally most eager to embrace technological change and industrial innovation.
Regarding the direction and focus for the next stage of new quality productive forces development that is of concern to the industry, the expert stated, "It is expected that the next stage will mainly revolve around areas such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, robotics, and the chip industry. These are also the most promising fields for the development of new quality productive forces domestically at present."
Another economist also pointed out that the key directions for the next stage of new quality productive forces development lie in four areas. First is the cluster development of strategic emerging industries. The 2026 Government Work Report explicitly proposed fostering emerging pillar industries such as integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, and the low-altitude economy. Second is the precise and forward-looking layout of future industries. The outline for the "15th Five-Year Plan"明确了 six future industry directions: quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied AI, and sixth-generation mobile communication (6G), requiring efforts to make these areas new economic growth points. Third is the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the intelligent economy. Continuously advance the "AI Plus" initiative, support the widespread application of large models, and vigorously develop new-generation intelligent terminals such as intelligent connected new energy vehicles, AI phones and computers, and intelligent robots, as well as intelligent manufacturing equipment. Fourth is the development of specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and new SMEs and the innovation ecosystem. "At the policy level, continue to increase support for specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and new SMEs, build mechanisms to promote their growth, cultivate unicorn enterprises, efficiently utilize the national venture capital guiding fund, and government investment funds should take the lead in being patient capital," the economist further added.
Looking ahead to the next stage, another researcher believes: "It is expected that the focus of new quality productive forces will lie in two dimensions: scenario implementation and ecosystem refinement. First, directions like the low-altitude economy and embodied AI need to accelerate their transition from the laboratory to the market. Second, future industries still require strengthened basic research layout, while also paying attention to the交叉融合 of different technological pathways."
"Global competition has shifted from competition in single technologies to competition among industrial ecosystems. Only by率先打通 the application closed-loop can technological advantages be transformed into industrial dominance. And only by continuously consolidating underlying capabilities can we ensure the long-term stable operation of the innovation engine," the researcher explained.
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