The landscape of China's urban economies is being reshaped as Wenzhou and Dalian officially joined the "trillion-yuan club," while Beijing's GDP surpassed 5 trillion yuan for the first time, following Shanghai. Beyond scale expansion, these trillion-yuan cities are now seeking new coordinates for economic growth, with consumption playing a pivotal role. From emotional consumption to tech-driven spending and niche consumption scenarios, future urban competition will extend beyond total economic output to encompass quality of life, innovation ecosystems, and sustainable development.

Recently, as top-performing cities successively released their GDP data, the competition for trillion-yuan city status in 2025 has concluded. A total of 29 cities in China achieved GDP exceeding one trillion yuan in 2025. Among them, Wenzhou and Dalian saw their GDP break the one-trillion-yuan threshold for the first time, while Shanghai and Beijing both entered the 5 trillion-yuan range, further expanding the national roster of trillion-yuan GDP cities.

Behind the expansion of this "trillion-yuan matrix," 22 of these cities recorded GDP growth rates exceeding 5% in 2025, surpassing the national average. Tangshan, Hefei, Yantai, and Wenzhou posted growth rates above 6%. Meanwhile, 14 trillion-yuan cities maintained or slightly increased their GDP growth rates compared to 2024, with Xi'an and Guangzhou rising by 3.4 and 1.9 percentage points, respectively.

Analyzing the economic structure of these top-tier cities reveals which industries provided key momentum in reaching the trillion-yuan milestone. Development priorities vary across city tiers. In Shanghai and Beijing, the two leading cities, the value-added of the tertiary sector grew by 6.0% and 5.8% in 2025, outpacing overall GDP growth. In contrast, newly minted trillion-yuan cities Wenzhou and Dalian saw value-added of large-scale industrial enterprises grow by double digits, with the secondary sector playing a critical role in their economic expansion.

Over the longer term, from 2021 to 2025, the number of trillion-yuan GDP cities in China increased gradually from 24 to 29. As the "trillion-yuan map" continues to expand, urban development has entered a new phase. "29 is just a transitional figure," noted Zheng Tiancheng, Deputy Director of the Enterprise and Market Research Center at the China Development Institute in Shenzhen. He emphasized that while more cities are expected to reach trillion-yuan GDP levels, the focus of urban development has shifted from pure scale growth to high-quality development across multiple dimensions, including technological innovation, high-end resource allocation, and ecological livability. Cities are also evolving from monocentric models toward collaborative urban agglomerations.

**Reshuffling Among Trillion-Yuan Cities: Two New Entries, Shanghai and Beijing Side by Side**

Among the 29 trillion-yuan GDP cities in 2025, two reached the 5 trillion-yuan range, while no city occupied the 4 trillion-yuan tier. Three cities fell into the 3 trillion-yuan range, four in the 2 trillion-yuan range, and 20 in the 1 trillion-yuan range, forming a positive pyramid structure.

The distribution of cities in the 2–4 trillion-yuan range remained stable. Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Guangzhou reported GDPs of 3,873.18 billion yuan, 3,375.393 billion yuan, and 3,203.946 billion yuan, respectively, all in the 3 trillion-yuan tier. Suzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Wuhan remained in the 2 trillion-yuan range, maintaining their 2024 rankings.

Notable changes occurred at both ends of the pyramid. Beijing's GDP exceeded 5 trillion yuan for the first time in 2025, reaching 5,207.34 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, making it the second city after Shanghai to surpass this threshold. The tertiary sector contributed significantly, with value-added reaching 4,477.69 billion yuan, up 5.8%, 0.4 percentage points higher than overall GDP growth. Information transmission, software, and IT services grew by 11.0%, while the financial sector expanded by 8.7%, together accounting for over 70% of Beijing's economic growth.

"Beijing's status as China's education hub is a vital driver of its economic development," Zheng Tiancheng commented. "With its young, high-density talent pool, Beijing leads the nation in emerging industries like artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the service sector, especially IT services, has become an absolute pillar of Beijing's economy, with value-added reaching trillions of yuan, fostering a knowledge-intensive, high-value-added industrial structure that supports steady economic growth."

Similarly, Shanghai's growth was led by the tertiary sector, which expanded by 6.0% in 2025, 0.6 percentage points above its GDP growth. Value-added in information transmission, software, and IT services rose by 15.3%, while the financial sector grew by 9.7%.

Zheng Tiancheng analyzed that Shanghai's growth logic resembles Beijing's, with both relying on producer services and deep integration of basic research, talent education, and industrial transformation to drive new quality productive forces represented by key industries such as AI, biopharmaceuticals, next-generation IT, and semiconductors. This shift is propelling both cities toward higher-quality, higher-value-added economic structures.

Simultaneously, the base of the trillion-yuan GDP pyramid saw new additions: Wenzhou and Dalian both surpassed the one-trillion-yuan mark for the first time. Wenzhou's GDP reached 1,021.39 billion yuan in 2025, up 6.1% year-on-year, exceeding national and provincial averages by 1.1 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively. Dalian's GDP hit 1,000.21 billion yuan, growing by 5.7%.

In terms of industrial structure, unlike Beijing and Shanghai, Wenzhou and Dalian posted impressive growth in value-added of large-scale industrial enterprises. Wenzhou's industrial value-added surged by 10.3%, with its auto parts and electrical equipment industries growing by 19.0% and 13.6%, respectively. Output value of new industrial products rose by 13.9%, driving a 9.8% increase in export deliveries.

Exports are a key component of Wenzhou's economic drivers. In 2025, the city's export value grew by 9.6%, 3.5 percentage points above the national average. Exports of mechanical and electrical products rose by 11.6%, while high-tech product exports jumped by 32.9%. Private enterprises contributed 265.53 billion yuan in exports, up 11.4%, accounting for 96.1% of the city's total.

Dalian's industrial value-added increased by 11.7% in 2025, 4.1 percentage points higher than the previous year. Key sectors such as petrochemicals grew by 8.9%, while equipment manufacturing rose by 15.4%, with rail and shipbuilding surging 57.5% and the automotive sector up 19.5%. Notably, as the first trillion-yuan city in Northeast China, Dalian also saw high-tech manufacturing grow by 13.9%, led by computing and office equipment manufacturing (up 78.2%) and pharmaceuticals (up 30.9%). Output of chemical drug raw materials, integrated circuit wafers, and LCD displays increased by 26.1%, 19.1%, and 3.0%, respectively.

Zheng Tiancheng noted that Wenzhou and Dalian represent two distinct pathways to trillion-yuan status: Wenzhou leverages its strong private economy and overseas Chinese business networks to optimize export structures and expand internationally, while Dalian, as an old industrial base, capitalizes on its solid industrial foundation and port advantages to develop heavy industry and strengthen high-tech manufacturing. Both models emphasize reinforcing inherent strengths to achieve scale.

**Top Cities Target AI+**

Having reached the trillion-yuan milestone, what key industries are these leading cities targeting next? A review of government work reports for 2026 from multiple trillion-yuan cities shows that while each city prioritizes industries based on its existing foundation, most emphasize one key area: artificial intelligence.

Shanghai, with the highest GDP among Chinese cities, plans to support industries such as intelligent connected new energy vehicles, marine economy, low-altitude economy, aerospace, and satellite internet in 2026, while deepening its "AI+" initiative. Beijing, also in the 5 trillion-yuan tier, aims to develop high-precision industries, highlighting integrated circuits, green advanced energy, new energy vehicles, robotics, commercial aerospace, 6G, quantum technology, and biomanufacturing, alongside a comprehensive "AI+" action plan.

Among "mid-tier" trillion-yuan cities, Chongqing, in the 3 trillion-yuan range, seeks to upgrade its leading and pillar industries, including intelligent connected NEVs and next-generation electronics, while前瞻布局 low-altitude economy, smart medical equipment, biomanufacturing, brain-computer interfaces, and embodied intelligent robots. It also plans to expand its "AI+" initiatives, enhancing vertical model development, performance evaluation, and standard setting.

Newcomer Wenzhou, building on its "5+5+N" modern industrial system, aims to create a new industrial matrix focused on "digital intelligence, chips, optics, pharmaceuticals, and vision," positioning itself as a pioneer in AI innovation. It targets establishing over five AI-themed industrial parks, capturing segments such as embodied intelligence, smart terminals, and application services, with a goal of achieving 22 billion yuan in core AI industry revenue.

Dalian, rooted in heavy industry, also emphasized in its 2026 government work report the need to foster new momentum in the digital economy, advance key computing infrastructure projects, and deepen "AI+" applications, particularly in vertical large models for smart chemicals, smart oceanography, software engineering, and financial regulation.

Why are trillion-yuan cities collectively betting on AI? What role will AI play in future urban economic development? Zhang Zhengang, a second-level professor at the South China University of Technology's School of Business Administration and a member of Guangdong's 15th Five-Year Plan expert committee, explained that AI can lead systematic changes in research paradigms, driving breakthroughs in methodology, organization, and evaluation, thereby accelerating technological progress and securing advantages in global tech competition.

"For instance, AI large models can enable new methods like AI-powered experimental robots and AI-driven literature mining, facilitating interdisciplinary research and breakthroughs. Open-source models also allow dynamic aggregation of global talent, forming human-machine collaborative research organizations. This redefines research paradigms, speeds up iteration, and catalyzes new quality productive forces," Zhang stated.

"Why do we emphasize high-quality development and new quality productive forces? Because China's future economic advancement depends entirely on whether we have new technologies and industrial upgrades based on technological progress. Industrial upgrading is our foremost task," added Zheng Yongnian, Dean of the School of Public Policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Chairman of the Guangzhou Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Institute.

AI may well be the "ladder" that trillion-yuan cities are collectively aiming for to support industrial upgrading.

Looking ahead, as the number of trillion-yuan GDP cities continues to grow, Zheng Tiancheng predicts that inter-city competition will transcend mere GDP comparisons, shifting toward multi-dimensional high-quality development encompassing technological innovation, high-end resource allocation, cultural soft power, urban livability, and business environment. "This means cities must transition from scale expansion to quality enhancement, measuring progress with more comprehensive indicators."

He also noted that China's urban development is evolving from monocentric models to coordinated urban agglomerations. For example, the Yangtze River Delta exhibits a "Shanghai R&D, Suzhou manufacturing" collaboration, while the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area benefits from Shenzhen's innovation and Guangzhou-Foshan-Dongguan's industrial clusters. Such multi-polar regional development models can overcome the functional limitations of single-core cities, unleashing greater synergistic momentum.