China’s Future Industries Take Shape in 15th Five-Year Plan

China is entering the first year of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) with a strategic push to cultivate six future industries—quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and 6G communications—as new economic growth points. Approved by the 14th National People’s Congress in March 2026, the plan represents a deliberate shift from upgrading existing industries to creating entirely new industrial ecosystems from frontier technologies, according to Xinhua News.

A National Strategy Takes Shape

The policy framework supporting future industries has been layered across national, ministerial, and local levels. The 15th Five-Year Plan outline explicitly calls for “forward-looking layout of future industries,” while the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and six other departments jointly issued the “Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of Future Industries,” systematically planning six major directions: future manufacturing, future information, future materials, future energy, future space, and future health.

MIIT Chief Engineer Wang Weiming said the ministry has guided local governments to establish over 85 provincial-level future industry pilot zones. All 31 provinces have incorporated future industries into their 15th Five-Year Plan outlines, with hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy included by all 31 provinces, biomanufacturing by 28, embodied intelligence by 26, brain-computer interfaces by 22, 6G by 22, and quantum technology by 21.

“Future industries are mostly in the stage of gestation or early industrialization, with uncertain technology routes, market space, and business models, requiring strategic foresight and overall planning,” said Hu Yongjun, director of the Future Industry Division at the National Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Breakthroughs Across the Technology Frontier

Across China, concrete technological advances are demonstrating the tangible progress of future industry development. In Hefei, Anhui Province, over 100 quantum enterprises have clustered, including QuantumCTek, CIQTEK, and Origin Quantum, making the city a national hub for quantum industry development.

A joint research team including China Telecom Research Institute and QuantumCTek recently set a new record in quantum-classical co-transmission over a 101.6 km hollow-core fiber. “Our research team successfully achieved stable co-transmission of ultra-large-capacity classical optical communication and commercial quantum key distribution equipment over a 101.6 km hollow-core fiber, laying a solid foundation for the larger-scale deployment of quantum secure communication networks in the future,” said Zhou Lei, vice president of QuantumCTek.

The “Jiuzhang 4” quantum computing prototype, developed with 3,050 photons, has broken through the loss bottleneck and is moving toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. In the brain-computer interface field, Shanghai-based startup Ladder Medical has completed 28 clinical implantation surgeries over the past year, with patients able to control electric wheelchairs and command robot dogs through thought alone. Zhao Zhengtuo, founder of Ladder Medical and a researcher at the CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, noted that the center “has been deeply engaged in brain science, encouraging researchers to promote the industrialization of frontier achievements, benefiting patients and nurturing future industries.”

China’s 6G research and development has completed the first phase of technical testing, forming over 300 key technology reserves, and has launched the second phase of testing. In advanced materials, Zhongjian Technology in Changzhou, Jiangsu, has achieved stable production capacity of 5,000 tons per year of wet-process high-performance carbon fiber, successfully realizing efficient large-scale preparation of domestically-produced T1100-grade carbon fiber.

Regional Differentiation: Local Strengths, National Synergy

A defining feature of China’s approach is the emphasis on differentiated regional development. Rather than a one-size-fits-all strategy, provinces are pursuing combinations of future industries based on local comparative advantages.

In Wuxi’s Huishan District, an equipment manufacturing hub, the local government has built an artificial intelligence infrastructure base, constructing a “computing power-algorithm-application” ecosystem that connects research resources with manufacturing scenarios. “We don’t build ‘castles in the air’ industries, but follow our own industrial footsteps, moving toward high-end and future development,” said Wang Ninghai, director of the Huishan District Industry and Information Technology Bureau.

Shanghai’s Zhangjiang area is building the country’s first silicon photonics future industry cluster, now home to more than 30 related enterprises. Zhejiang has emphasized scientific future industry layout in its plan, Hunan is advancing green intelligent computing and BeiDou applications, and Sichuan has designated 6G, hydrogen energy, and controllable nuclear fusion as key directions.

Capital and Ecosystem: Patient Money Meets Institutional Support

The financing ecosystem for future industries has expanded significantly. Shanghai’s 15 billion yuan Future Industry Fund operates on a 15-year cycle as counter-cyclical patient capital, while Beijing has established a 3.5 billion yuan Frontier Science Innovation Future Industry Equity Investment Fund. In the private sector, Origin Quantum announced a nearly 3 billion yuan Pre-IPO financing round in June 2026, setting a record for single-round quantum financing, and Star Fusion completed an 830 million yuan first-round financing on June 30, setting a domestic record for first-round fusion financing.

Beyond capital, local governments are innovating in services and regulatory approaches. Changzhou’s Yangtze River Delta Synthetic Biology Industrial Innovation Park has attracted more than 80 synthetic biology enterprises through its one-stop service center. “The competition of future industries, in the short term, depends on technology and projects; in the long term, it depends on cultivation and ecosystem,” said Xu Linhu, the park’s investment and operations director.

Hangzhou’s “Regulations on Promoting the Development of the Embodied Intelligent Robot Industry,” which took effect in May 2026, became China’s first local regulation focused on embodied intelligent robots. Guiyang has opened more than ten types of urban application scenarios for embodied intelligence companies, with vending robots in scenic areas now able to make coffee and popcorn using locally provided data.

Analysis: From Technology Push to Industry Pull

The “industry sets the questions, science and technology provides the answers” principle signals a fundamental shift in China’s innovation approach—from research-push to demand-pull. Liu Xiaokang, president of Chongqing University of Technology, emphasized that “only by firmly grasping the initiative of independent innovation in core technologies can we effectively seize the first opportunity in future industry development. Innovation must aim at real market demand from the source, achieving synchronization between laboratory and production line, scientists and entrepreneurs, and technology breakthroughs and industrial germination.”

Lu Feng, a professor at Peking University’s National School of Development, argued that “in strengthening the principal role of enterprises in innovation, we must create conditions, respect laws, let different technology routes and business models be tested in competition, and promote the continuous emergence of innovation results.”

Fan Jida, deputy director of the Economics Teaching and Research Department at the Central Party School, stressed the importance of governance: “We must use the certainty of institutional design to hedge against the uncertainty of industrial development, build a scientific governance system that can leave room for innovation while maintaining the safety bottom line, and safeguard the stable and long-term development of future industries.”

What to Watch Next

China’s future industries span different stages of technological maturity. According to the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, nuclear fusion, 6G, and brain-computer interfaces remain in the germination stage; hydrogen energy, quantum computing, and humanoid robots are in the growth stage; and quantum communication and new pharmaceutical manufacturing have entered the expansion stage. This tiered distribution allows for both short-term breakthroughs and long-term sustainable development.

With China’s 509,000 high-tech enterprises and over 17,000 specialized “little giant” enterprises serving as the driving force, future industries are expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 15%, with output value reaching approximately 15.5 trillion yuan by 2026, according to preliminary estimates by the China Industrial Internet Research Institute.

As the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan unfolds, the question is no longer whether China will develop future industries, but how quickly these emerging sectors can transition from the “eve of technological breakthrough” to the “dawn of industrial explosion”—and what that transformation will mean for the global economic landscape.