Driven by factors such as a surge in demand for computing power, profits of China's industrial enterprises above a designated size rose 18.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, with the electronics industry seeing a massive 96.9% profit surge.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released these figures on July 27. In the first half, against a backdrop of stable industrial production growth and a sustained recovery in industrial product prices, the operating revenue of these enterprises grew 6.5% year-on-year, accelerating by 1.5 percentage points from the first quarter. The acceleration in revenue growth pushed the profit growth of industrial enterprises above a designated size to 18.7% year-on-year, 3.2 percentage points higher than the first quarter.

The electronics sector was particularly standout. In the first half, the accelerated integration of artificial intelligence with various fields and the substantial increase in demand for computing power drove the electronics industry's profits up 96.9% year-on-year, contributing 8.5 percentage points to the overall profit growth of industrial enterprises above a designated size.

Yu Weining, Chief Statistician at the NBS's Department of Industry, noted that within the server and high-performance workstation related fields, profits from computer complete machine manufacturing and computer peripheral equipment manufacturing jumped 689.3% and 305.8%, respectively. In the electronic device manufacturing sector, profits from integrated circuit manufacturing and semiconductor discrete device manufacturing surged by 2579.5% and 31.2% respectively. Meanwhile, within the electronic component and electronic dedicated material manufacturing sector, profits from electronic dedicated material manufacturing and electronic circuit manufacturing grew by 209.7% and 26.9%, respectively.

Pang Ming, a member of the China Chief Economist Forum, believes that the electronics sector has become a key pillar boosting overall industrial enterprise profits, directly confirming the powerful pull that accelerated AI integration, the explosion in computing power demand, and high-end equipment demand have on corporate profitability.

Furthermore, profits in the raw materials manufacturing industry also achieved rapid growth. In the first half, profits for raw materials manufacturers above a designated size rose 71.7% year-on-year, contributing 8.8 percentage points to the overall profit growth. Among them, driven by rising prices of petroleum-related products, the petroleum processing industry turned a profit year-on-year, while the chemical industry's profits grew by 67.8%.