Yuhang District in Hangzhou City achieved rapid GDP growth on a high base in 2025, demonstrating how a major economic player can maintain fast-paced expansion.
According to information obtained from relevant departments in Hangzhou's Yuhang District, the district's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2025 reached 356.803 billion yuan, maintaining its position as the highest in the province. Calculated at constant prices, it grew by 6.1% compared to the previous year, ranking first in growth rate within Hangzhou City and achieving rapid growth on a high base.
An analysis reveals that Yuhang's GDP increased from 250.22 billion yuan in 2021 to 356.803 billion yuan in 2025, representing an increment of approximately 106.6 billion yuan. How can such a substantial economic entity continue to "run" so swiftly?
Stable progress in the service sector and accelerated growth in manufacturing have become the most crucial supports for Yuhang's rapid economic expansion. In 2025, the value added of Yuhang's service industry grew by 6.3% year-on-year, with its total volume ranking first in the province. The value added of industries above a designated size increased by 6.1% compared to the previous year, marking the highest growth rate for the district's scale industries since 2022.
A relevant official from Yuhang District stated that the district fully leverages its scale advantage, where the value added of its core digital economy industries accounts for nearly 70% of GDP, to promote a "second climb" for the digital economy. In the first 11 months of 2025, the operating revenue of service enterprises above a designated size reached 913.1 billion yuan.
A rainforest-like innovation ecosystem has become a powerful engine for Yuhang's rapid economic growth. The "Model Domain Space" AI innovation platform, jointly built by the district and Alibaba, has already attracted 70 projects to establish a presence. "The surrounding agglomeration of AI industries here allows us to better reach upstream and downstream partners and customers," said Ma Chao, a partner at Hangzhou Yiqi Technology Co., Ltd., one of the first companies to move in. He added that Yuhang's service philosophy of "We are responsible for the sunshine and rain, you are responsible for thriving" deeply attracts their geek team.
Aggregated sci-tech innovation platforms, a large talent pool, active innovation entities, smooth transformation chains, and the "sunshine and rain" provided by a government that "understands enterprises and talent best" have formed a unique innovation ecosystem in Yuhang. In 2025, Yuhang established 75,800 new market entities, averaging over 200 new establishments per day, bringing the current total to over 330,000. Simultaneously, the total talent pool in the district has exceeded 500,000, with the Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City exhibiting a high concentration of young talent, boasting an average age of only 32.
The rapid economic growth is also inseparable from the contribution of emerging industries. Selected as a provincial-level pioneer zone for the future industry of artificial intelligence, Yuhang has already laid out a "1+3+X" future industrial system characterized by "Artificial Intelligence + Embodied Intelligence, Low-altitude Economy, and Brain-like Intelligence." Early in the new year, BrainCo, one of the "Hangzhou Six Little Dragons," completed a financing round of approximately 2 billion yuan. This not only set a record for the largest single financing round in China's brain-computer interface industry but also became the second-largest financing case globally in this sector. A relevant company official stated that the funds raised will be used to accelerate core technology R&D for brain-computer interfaces, breakthrough engineering challenges, product scaling, and mass production implementation.