China’s Electronics Revenue Hits 9.41 Trillion Yuan in H1
China’s electronic information manufacturing industry recorded operating revenue of 9.41 trillion yuan (approximately $1.31 trillion) in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 18.5%, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The sector’s total profits reached 577.7 billion yuan, surging 96.9% year-on-year—nearly doubling—as production accelerated, exports improved, and investment grew steadily.
Sector Outperforms Broader Industry
The value-added output of the electronic information manufacturing industry grew 14.8% year-on-year in H1, outpacing overall industrial growth by 9.4 percentage points and high-tech manufacturing by 1.5 percentage points. In June alone, value-added output expanded 15.7%, while monthly revenue reached 1.89 trillion yuan, up 24.7%.
According to Xinhua News, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported that the industry’s production continued to accelerate, exports remained stable and improving, efficiency maintained growth momentum, and investment grew steadily during the period.
AI Demand Drives Semiconductor Surge
Integrated circuit production reached 279.8 billion units in H1, up 23.1% year-on-year—an average of more than 1.5 billion chips produced daily. The surge reflects explosive global demand for high-end computing and memory chips driven by the AI technology transformation.
“Integrated circuits are what we commonly call chips. They are widely used in intelligent equipment and electronic products,” said Wang Guanhua, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, as reported by 21st Century Business Herald. “Producing over 1.5 billion chips per day is not just an update of numbers, but a vivid portrayal of the driving force behind China’s semiconductor industry development.”
Other key products also showed strong growth: industrial robot production reached 538,000 sets (up 28.0%), new energy vehicles totaled 7.399 million units (up 6.0%), and AI-related industries including integrated circuit manufacturing and intelligent vehicle equipment maintained growth rates exceeding 30%.
Exports and Investment Show Resilience
Export delivery value grew 7.8% year-on-year in H1, accelerating 1.7 percentage points from the January-May period. June export delivery value grew 12.9%. Customs data shows TV exports reached 50.23 million units (up 3.1%) and integrated circuit exports totaled 179.4 billion units (up 7%), though mobile phone exports declined 4.3% to 325 million units.
Fixed asset investment in the sector grew 6.5% year-on-year, 7.6 percentage points higher than overall industrial investment growth.
Regional Rebalancing Accelerates
The central region emerged as the fastest-growing area, with revenue up 44.8% to 1.86 trillion yuan, and June growth reaching 56.6%. The eastern region contributed 6.50 trillion yuan (up 13.2%), the western region 1.00 trillion yuan (up 14.9%), and the northeast 44.1 billion yuan (up 1.4%).
Policy Framework and Expert Analysis
The sector’s performance builds on the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industry 2025-2026 Stability and Growth Action Plan, jointly issued by MIIT and the State Administration for Market Regulation in September 2025. The plan targets maintaining the sector’s top position in revenue and export share among 41 major industrial categories, with five provinces expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan in electronics manufacturing revenue.
Experts attribute the sector’s strength to industrial upgrading and technology-driven growth. Pang Ming, Distinguished Senior Researcher at the National Institution for Finance & Development, told Jiemian News that the significant profit growth in high-tech manufacturing, especially the surge in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing, “reflects the accelerated release of industrial upgrading and new quality productive forces, and has become the strongest engine of industrial profit growth. This growth driven by technology premiums has changed the old model that relied on resource input.”
Wang Peng, Associate Researcher at Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, added that the sector’s growth “reflects both the industry’s own resilience and the structural upgrading driven by technology integration and policy.”
Outlook for H2
The sector’s near-doubling of profits signals improving corporate health, with the profit-to-revenue ratio improving to approximately 6.1% from roughly 4.0% in H1 2024, when revenue stood at 7.37 trillion yuan with profits of 294.2 billion yuan. New growth drivers—including high-tech manufacturing, digital product manufacturing, and modern services—contributed over 40% to China’s overall economic growth in H1.
Analysts expect high-tech manufacturing and new growth drivers to remain the core support for industrial growth in the second half of 2026, with the electronics sector expected to maintain double-digit growth in value-added output. However, potential challenges include softness in consumer electronics demand, persistent regional disparities, and the risk that external demand could weaken.
As the central government has indicated it will introduce more targeted and proactive policies based on changing circumstances, the electronics manufacturing sector is positioned to remain a key pillar of China’s industrial economy through the remainder of the year.