The economic performance reports for the first quarter have been released for all 31 provincial-level regions in China. Data indicates that major economic provinces played a pivotal role, with Shandong and Zhejiang leveraging their large economic scale combined with high growth rates to stabilize the national economic foundation. Concurrently, the western regions demonstrated accelerated potential, with Tibet and Gansu leading in GDP growth at 6.1% and 5.9%, respectively. In terms of growth drivers, high-tech industries maintained rapid expansion in many provinces, showcasing strong momentum from new quality productive forces.
Major economic provinces continued to serve as stabilizing anchors in the first quarter, with their leading role firmly established. In terms of total economic output, Guangdong and Jiangsu led the nation with GDP exceeding 3 trillion yuan each, followed by Shandong and Zhejiang, both surpassing 2 trillion yuan. Sichuan and Henan each reported GDP figures exceeding 1.5 trillion yuan. Regarding growth rates, national GDP grew by 5% year-on-year in Q1 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Provincial reports show that 15 provinces achieved GDP growth rates of at least 5%. Notably, eight of the top 10 provinces by economic size exceeded this national growth rate. Among them, Shandong and Zhejiang both recorded a 6% growth rate, tying for the second highest nationally. It is worth mentioning that Guangdong, China's most populous province and largest economy, posted a growth rate of 4.6%, slightly below the national average. However, data from the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics indicated this rate was 0.5 and 0.7 percentage points higher than the same period in 2025 and the full year of 2025, respectively, with significant rebounds in industrial output, investment, and foreign trade, consolidating its economic foundation.
Western provinces are also gaining momentum, with several emerging as standout performers. Tibet led the nation with a 6.1% GDP growth rate, while Gansu and Qinghai grew at 5.9% and 5.4%, respectively, both exceeding the national average. Overall, provincial economies continued their recovery and improvement in the first quarter, with most major provinces outperforming the national growth rate, thereby stabilizing the broader economy. Only Guangdong's growth was below the national figure, but the gap narrowed to 0.4 percentage points, the smallest difference in the same period over the past five years. Less developed provinces also continued to enhance their development resilience.
Beyond scale and speed, the drivers of economic growth are equally noteworthy. Nationally, investment in high-tech industries increased by 7.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, 5.7 percentage points higher than the growth of total fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households). Provincial reports highlight that new quality productive forces have become a new engine for economic growth. The artificial intelligence boom has driven the development of related industrial chains, benefiting many provinces. Reports from at least 13 provinces mentioned achievements in integrated circuit development, showing strong overall growth momentum. For instance, benefiting from factors like the AI computing power surge, Chongqing's power semiconductor and integrated circuit cluster, along with its AI and robotics industrial cluster, grew by 50.9% and 58.2%, respectively. The AI wave in Guangdong spurred rapid growth in the electronics sector, with computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing increasing by 13.4%, maintaining double-digit growth and contributing 3.6 percentage points to the province's value-added industrial output above designated size, accounting for over 60% of the growth. Beijing's integrated circuit manufacturing saw value-added industrial output above designated size grow by 61.5%, while Shanxi's integrated circuit output surged 32.3 times.
Simultaneously, the new energy vehicle industry injected strong momentum into the economic growth of multiple provinces. For example, Beijing's NEV output increased by 44% in the first quarter, while Shanghai's NEV industry output value grew by 34.9%. Furthermore, despite a 11.2% decline in total automobile output in Liaoning, its NEV output grew by 24.0%, serving as a key lever for the transformation of the old industrial base.
Foreign trade also showed strong momentum in the first quarter, with high-level opening up continuously releasing developmental energy. Guangdong's foreign trade volume hit a new high, leading the nation with a 19.4% growth rate. Exports of integrated circuits, lithium batteries, and ships grew by 63.4%, 65.5%, and 70.7%, respectively. Zhejiang's exports reached the 1 trillion yuan mark for the first time in the same period historically, with exports of electric vehicles and lithium batteries growing by 90.7% and 124.2% year-on-year, respectively. Progress in the transformation and upgrading of domestic manufacturing continues to boost exports of new energy vehicles and high-tech products.
As a new highland for institutional opening-up in China, the Hainan Free Trade Port is rapidly realizing its institutional dividends. In the first quarter, Hainan's total goods import and export value reached 84.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.5%. As a key logistics hub for the port, the Yangpu Port handled 983,700 TEUs of container throughput, a surge of 94.37% year-on-year. Experts note that the continuous advancement of institutional innovations, such as the preparation for island-wide customs operations in Hainan, has strengthened policy support for foreign trade enterprises, boosting their confidence to expand markets, stabilize orders, and increase profits.