A robotic arm produces battery packs for ships at Zigui Green Intelligent Ship Industrial Park in Zigui, Central China's Hubei Province, on May 22, 2024. Photo: Chen Tao/GT

China's investment in fixed assets continued to expand, with more investment going to high-tech industries. During the first seven months this year, high-tech investments rose 10.4 percent year-on-year, faster than the 3.6-percent rise of overall fixed-asset investments, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

Investments in high-tech manufacturing increased 9.7 percent year-on-year from January to July, with investment in aviation, spacecraft and equipment manufacturing growing by 37.7 percent, and that in computer and office equipment manufacturing increasing by 10.8 percent.

Investment in high-tech services also showed a rapid growth of 11.9 percent in the first seven months, according to NBS. In particular, investment in professional and technical services increased by 25.4 percent and investment in e-commerce services increased by 17.9 percent.

Since the beginning of 2024, the high-tech manufacturing sector, characterized by high tech, high efficiency and high quality, has witnessed a strong growth. This has become a bright spot in the Chinese economy, laying a solid foundation for the steady and sound development of the national economy.

Analysts highlighted the fact that China's high-tech manufacturing sector has kept attracting more investment, thanks to the rapid development of new quality productive forces. The high-tech sector is becoming more energy-saving, more digitalized and greener.

From January to July, national fixed-asset investment reached 28.7611 trillion yuan ($4.02 trillion), up 3.6 percent year-on-year. Infrastructure investment rose 4.9 percent year-on-year, and manufacturing investment increased 9.3 percent.

On the whole, investment in fixed assets has remained on the expansion track, while being optimized in structure, Liu Aihua, a spokesperson for the NBS, said on Thursday.

"The supporting role of large investment projects is significant, and the effect of large-scale equipment renewal policies will continue to be released, promoting the expansion of the overall investment scale," said Liu.

This aerial drone photo taken on July 17, 2024 shows the Tianmen grand bridge in construction in southwest China's Guizhou Province. The 1,553-meter grand bridge is a major project on the expressway linking Anshun and Panzhou in Guizhou. (Photo: Xinhua)

Liu pointed out that from January to July, the number of investment projects with planned investment of 100 million yuan or above rose by 7.6 percent year-on-year. Investment in the purchase of equipment rose 17 percent, and investment in manufacturing technology transformation rose 10.9 percent, maintaining rapid growth.

Excluding investment in the real estate sector, which fell 10.2 percent, fixed-asset investment rose 8.0 percent year-on-year during the January-July period.

Global Times