New quality productive forces have played an important role in driving China's economic growth in the first two months of this year, said a spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
Fu Linghui, spokesman and director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the NBS, made the comments at a press conference on China's economic performance in January and February, in Beijing.
China's new quality productive forces represent a new growth model for the country's economy and society, focused on rapid scientific and technological innovation and the upgrading of traditional industries.
"Emerging industries are a crucial engine for the development of new quality productive forces. In the first two months, the added value of high-tech manufacturing businesses above designated size grew by 9.1 percent year on year, accelerating by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year. Domestic artificial intelligence (AI) large models have emerged robustly, and innovative products such as AI plus are accelerating, driving changes in production methods and promoting the rapid development of high-end manufacturing. From January to February, the production of high-tech products such as integrated circuit wafers, industrial robots, bullet trains, and civilian drones shot up 19.6 percent, 27 percent, 64 percent, and 91.5 percent, respectively," he said.
He also stressed the role of sustainable transformation in boosting the new quality productive forces.
"The green transformation is progressing steadily, injecting new momentum into the development of new quality productive forces. In the first two months, wind and solar power generated by enterprises above designated size grew by 10.4 percent and 27.4 percent year on year, respectively. The production of green products such as new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries for vehicles, and carbon fibers and their composite materials went up 47.7 percent, 35.4 percent, and 51.5 percent, respectively," he said.
Besides, digital and smart transformation also helps boost the development of new quality productive forces, said the official.
"The digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of industries have contributed to the development of new quality productive forces. In the first two months, investment in industrial technological upgrading rose by 10 percent year on year, 5.9 percentage points faster than total investment. Currently, China has built over 30,000 basic-level intelligent factories, more than 1,200 advanced-level intelligent factories, and more than 230 excellence-level intelligent factories, which will effectively empower industrial transformation and upgrading," said Fu.
The 230 excellence-level factories, distributed across all 31 provincial regions in China and covering over 80 percent of manufacturing sectors, have carried out nearly 2,000 advanced scenarios, including smart warehousing, AI-powered quality inspections, and digital research and development, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
On average, these factories are 28.4 percent shorter in product development cycles, 22.3 percent higher in production efficiency, 50.2 percent lower in defect rates and 20.4 percent lower in carbon emissions, said the ministry.
MIIT, alongside five other state agencies, jointly launched a smart factory gradient cultivation action last year and classified smart factories into four tiers based on technological maturity and integration depth, including the basic-level, the advanced-level, the excellence-level and the pioneer-level.
New quality productive forces play vital role in Chinese economy: spokesman
New quality productive forces play vital role in Chinese economy: spokesman
New quality productive forces play vital role in Chinese economy: spokesman
