Dozens of UBTECH industrial humanoid robots carry out training tasks at a smart factory in the Qianwan New Area in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, on March 1, 2025. Photo: VCG

Profits of China's high-tech manufacturing enterprises above the designated size surged 54.7 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2026, 39 percentage points faster than the overall growth rate for major industrial enterprises, official data showed on Monday, underscoring the growing role of technology-intensive industries and new growth drivers in supporting the world's second-largest economy.

Profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 5.27 trillion yuan ($785 billion) during the January-August period, up 15.7 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Manufacturing profits rose 17.4 percent.

Chinese experts noted a continued shift in China's growth drivers toward technology-intensive and higher-value-added sectors, as investment in computing power, chips and advanced equipment drives technological progress while expanding downstream applications creates a reinforcing cycle from infrastructure and core manufacturing to commercialization.

Among the standout sectors, the electronics industry got a particularly strong boost.

Profits in the sector more than doubled from a year earlier, rising 110 percent and accounting for 62 percent of the overall profit growth among industrial enterprises above the designated size, according to the NBS.

Rising chip demand driven by emerging applications such as new-energy vehicles, the Internet of Things and computing centers boosted profits in related sectors, with optoelectronic component manufacturing up 72.0 percent and semiconductor discrete device manufacturing up 51.8 percent. Rapid growth in electronic basic materials drove profits in electronic special materials manufacturing up 2.3 times.

The accelerated construction of computing-power infrastructure provided another strong boost.

Profits in optical fiber manufacturing surged 5.3 times year-on-year, while those in optical cable manufacturing doubled. In sectors related to high-performance servers, workstations and optoelectronic communications, profits in computer manufacturing and computer peripheral equipment manufacturing rose 3.9 times and 2.6 times, respectively.

Profits in industrial control computer and system manufacturing increased 1.3 times, while those in communication system equipment manufacturing rose 48.7 percent.

The trend was already evident earlier in the year. In its assessment of January-July industrial profits, the NBS said that the accelerating adoption of "AI Plus" and continued expansion in computing-power demand had boosted demand and prices for related products, driving rapid profit growth in electronics sectors linked to artificial intelligence (AI) production and applications.

NBS statistician Yu Weining said on Monday that new growth drivers represented by high-tech manufacturing have continued to accumulate and expand, helping industrial enterprises maintain relatively rapid profit growth. Industrial production remained generally stable while industrial product prices improved, supporting corporate earnings.

Beyond the profit figures, the accelerating deployment of new technologies across factories, workplaces and daily life is offering another window into the expansion of China's emerging industries.

At the 5th Global Digital Trade Expo, AI applications covered areas ranging from digital healthcare and smart mobility to cross-border trade and urban management. Cleaning robots worked alongside sanitation workers, brain-computer interface technologies were demonstrated for medical applications, while humanoid robots and autonomous vehicles showed how intelligent technologies are moving further into the physical world, Hangzhou's official local news portal showed on Sunday.

The examples offer a glimpse of how expanding downstream applications are supporting the rapid profit growth recorded in sectors such as electronics, computing equipment, and optoelectronic devices, Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.

The relatively high profits in AI and other high-tech manufacturing sectors partly reflect less intense competition in some emerging fields, while supplies of certain technologies and products remain relatively tight.

The shift from technological development to large-scale industrial and commercial use echoes the direction outlined at the National Advanced Manufacturing Conference held in Beijing on September 16 and 17.

The meeting called for sustained efforts to expand and strengthen advanced manufacturing, with next-generation intelligent manufacturing identified as a key direction.

The rapid expansion of AI applications is generating stronger demand for computing, data storage and related manufacturing capacity, Dong said. However, whether such sectors can sustain solid profitability over the longer term will ultimately depend on whether technologies can be translated into viable real-world applications.

Large-language models, for example, could generate more sustainable commercial returns as they are increasingly deployed in areas such as healthcare, education, culture, sports and tourism, Dong said. Industrial robots and application-oriented robots used in sectors including healthcare and education could also offer more stable demand and profit potential as their use expands.