Major industrial enterprises in China recorded accelerated profit growth in the first 5 months of 2026, thanks to a surge in demand for electronic products related to AI and new energy materials, according to official data released on June 27.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), industrial enterprises with annual main business revenue of 20 million yuan (about 2.93 million USD) or more achieved a total profit of 3.14 trillion yuan in the period from January to May, an increase of 18.8% compared to the same period last year.
This increase exceeded the figure of 18.2% for the first 4 months of the year. In May alone, industrial profit increased by 21.1%. Industrial revenue increased by 5.5% year-on-year in the first five months of the year, according to NBS statistician Yu Weining, in the context of still solid industrial production and continued increase in production costs.
The equipment manufacturing industry remained the key driving force. Profits in this sector increased by 14.1% in the period, contributing 5.2 percentage points to overall industrial profit growth.
In which, the electronics industry recorded a sharp increase in profits of 103.9%, contributing 43.1% to overall industrial profit growth, as the global AI fever boosted the boom in demand for high-end computing and memory products.
The raw material manufacturing industry also achieved a strong increase, with profits jumping 83.1% and contributing 10.2 percentage points to overall growth. Thanks to increased demand from new energy and AI industries, copper and aluminum prices remained high, pushing color metal industry profits up 117.1%. The oil processing industry returned to profitability, while the chemical industry saw profits increase by 71.6%.
The high-tech manufacturing industry maintained double-digit profit growth, increasing by 44.7% and contributing 8.0 percentage points to overall growth. In this sector, the manufacturing industry of optoelectronics and discrete equipment increased profits by 53.8% and 40.6% respectively, while the manufacturing industry of specialized electronic materials increased sharply by 665.4%.
The burden of business costs continues to decrease. For every 100 yuan of operating revenue, industrial enterprises have to bear 84.95 yuan of costs in the period from January to May, down 0.59 yuan compared to the same period, marking the fifth consecutive month of decline. Operating profit margin reached 5.56%, up 0.63 percentage points compared to a year ago and the highest level in all accumulated periods since 2024, Mr. Yu noted.
