By Wang Zheng, People’s Daily
In 2021, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in China increased by 9.6 percent over the previous year, 6.8 percentage points higher than that in 2020, said an official with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at a press conference on Feb. 28.
The two-year average growth of the added value of such enterprises stood at 6.1 percent, according to the official.
“China’s industrial economy has witnessed continuous recovery and development. Last year, the value-added of the manufacturing sector saw a year-on-year growth of 9.8 percent and a two-year average increase of 6.6 percent. It reached 31.4 trillion yuan ($4.97 trillion), ranking first in the world for the 12th consecutive year and accounting for 27.4 percent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP),” noted Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology.
The resilience of China’s industrial and supply chains were improved. The country has strived to remove blocks to the industrial and supply chains and keep key industrial chains safe and stable. Its industrial chains of photovoltaic, wind power, shipbuilding and other industries have further enhanced their competitive advantages in the world.
In 2021, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above designated size logged a year-on-year increase of 17.7 percent, representing a high level in recent years.
China’s industrial structure was further improved and upgraded. High-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing has played a greater role in driving the development of other industries, with their added value climbing 18.2 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively.
Manufacturing gathered pace in digital and green transformation; cluster development made continuous progress; and the numerical control rate of key processes and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools of industrial enterprises above designated size in key areas reached 55.3 percent and 74.7 percent respectively.
China saw new achievements in innovation and development in key areas. New breakthroughs have been made in major scientific and technological innovations, including China’s Tianwen-1 mission that achieved orbiting, landing, and roving on Mars and the successful launch of the Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft. New display, machine tools, new materials and other fields also secured technological advances.
The information and communications technology sector achieved new results in high-quality development. As China intensified efforts to promote new information infrastructure construction, a total of about 1.43 million 5G base stations had been set up across the country as of the end of 2021, with the number of 5G mobile terminal connections reaching 520 million.
The application of 5G networks in industry, energy, transportation and other fields has accelerated and deepened, leading to remarkable results in vitalizing various industries.
The digital transformation of China’s manufacturing industry has picked up speed and innovation activities have gained momentum, according to Tian Yulong, chief engineer and spokesperson of the MIIT.
By implementing an industrial Internet innovation and development project, China has cultivated more than 150 large-scale industrial Internet platforms, which have served over 1.6 million industrial enterprises.
The new generation of information technology, including 5G, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI), has been increasingly integrated into the manufacturing industry, especially in steel, automobile, equipment, electronics, petrochemical and other fields of the industrial sector, with integrated innovation and cross-industry innovation being constantly furthered.
There are more than 2,000 “5G+industrial Internet” projects under construction across China. Continuous development and innovation in new digitalization forms and models have helped increase the proportions of enterprises carrying out Internet-based collaboration and service-oriented manufacturing to 38.8 percent and 29.6 percent, respectively.
China is the world’s largest and fastest-growing integrated circuit market, providing vast market opportunities for the development of global enterprises; it is also an important producer and supplier of integrated circuits, always contributing to global integrated circuit industry, Tian pointed out.
International integrated circuit enterprises are always welcomed to increase investment in China and carry out various forms of cooperation to jointly help stabilize the global integrated circuit industrial and supply chains, he added.
“So far, China’s industrial economy has maintained stable overall performance. In particular, with the implementation of various policies and measures designed to promote the growth of industrial economy, notable results have been achieved,” Xiao said.
