BEIJING: China is shifting its strategy behind its massive electronics industry, pivoting from sheer manufacturing volume toward stronger command of the components, materials and technologies that keep its factories running.
Under a new joint development plan issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, the electronics industry should prioritize breakthroughs in core technologies and build stronger supply chains in order to ensure sustained growth.
The plan targets growing the sector’s revenue from 17.4 trillion yuan ($2.46 trillion) in 2025 to over 30 trillion yuan ($4.24 trillion) by 2030. Achieving that goal will require sustained annual growth of more than 11 percent in an increasingly complex economic environment.
To sustain that trajectory, the plan targets an R&D investment intensity of 3.5 percent across the sector by 2030, alongside major boosts to national computing power and the adoption of next-generation artificial intelligence devices.
The electronics manufacturing industry encompasses the development and production of various electronic devices that carry information technology, along with upstream electronic components, electronic measuring instruments, materials and specialized equipment.
The electronics industry’s revenue has ranked first among China’s 41 major industrial sectors for 13 consecutive years as of 2025, playing a pillar role in stabilizing industrial growth, according to the MIIT.
The sector showed strong momentum in both scale and investment in the first half of the year, with value-added output and revenue of computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturers both achieving double-digit growth, said MIIT spokeswoman Tao Qing at a news conference in July.
Tao said that electronic information technology continues to deeply integrate with various industries. According to the ministry, from January to August, the value-added output of the sector grew 15.7 percent year-on-year, 4.9 percentage points faster than the same period last year. In August alone, the sector posted revenue of 1.74 trillion yuan, up 25 percent year-on-year.
The plan also aims to secure competitive strengths in technology and products in fields such as integrated circuits, advanced computing, consumer electronics, basic electronics and energy electronics. It also calls for a substantial increase in computing power supply capacity, and a significant rise in the application penetration rate of new-generation intelligent terminals.
The plan has been welcomed by industry experts.
Ni Guangnan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology, said the plan “comes at exactly the right time”.
“The plan does more than take stock of and build upon the industry’s past achievements; it is a strategic response to the new realities of global technology competition,” Ni wrote in an article published on the China Center for Information Industry Development’s website last month.
He described the plan as “a roadmap for the high-quality development of the electronic information manufacturing industry over the next five years, providing programmatic guidance for the industry to achieve high-end expansion”.
The plan sets out priorities in strengthening the industrial base, making electronic systems and finished products more competitive, developing new sources of growth and supporting sustainable development.
The framework aims to tackle bottlenecks in key areas and build an independent and controllable industrial base, said Liu Bin, an official with the MIIT, in reference to potential risks from foreign vulnerabilities in the tech sector.
Liu pointed to photonics as an example, noting that advancing breakthroughs in core technologies and establishing pilot testing platforms for key areas and shared needs will strengthen the sector from the ground up. These efforts, he said, will lay a solid foundation for development and accelerate both technological innovation and the industrialization process.
The plan outlines a dedicated push for innovation in key consumer electronics products, ranging from high-end mobile phones and personal computers to virtual reality devices.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), China’s output of core consumer electronics, including mobile phones and computers, maintained a top global ranking.
AI is bringing new demand, new product forms and new ways of development to the electronic information manufacturing industry, while raising higher requirements for basic hardware supply and system coordination, said Liang Linjun, a researcher at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
Guo Yuansheng, executive vice-chairman of the China Sensor and Internet of Things Industry Alliance, said that the plan’s emphasis on smart sensors sends a clear policy signal to pool efforts in tackling bottlenecks in the sensor industry and strengthening the foundational capabilities of the manufacturing sector.
“The plan moves away from the isolated development approach for sensor chips; instead, it integrates micro-nano processing, full-chain quality control, spectrum-based product supply and industry-specific application scenarios as an organic whole,” Guo said.
This marks a shift in China’s strategy for developing the sensor industry — from pursuing breakthroughs in individual technologies to building capabilities across the entire industrial chain, he said.
The plan’s goals are already taking shape in some of China’s industrial clusters.
Xu Shengbin, executive director and general manager of Hubei Chutian Media Science and Innovation Park Management Co in Wuhan, Hubei province, said he values the plan’s emphasis on consolidating the foundation for the electronic information manufacturing industry.
“The base of the electronic information industry lies in basic components and core materials,” Xu said. “Without a strong industrial base, terminal products and new business models are nothing but castles in the air.”
He added that the plan’s focus on shoring up the industrial foundation strikes at the heart of the sector’s development. “It gives great confidence to enterprises like ours that have long been dedicated to building supporting industries.”
Xu said he views models like Optics Valley in Wuhan — where leading companies, specialized parks and supporting suppliers grow together — as the preferred path forward for the sector.
He described the current development phase of China’s electronic information manufacturing sector as a “critical window” — one in which the industry is shifting from scale expansion to independent technological breakthroughs.
Xu said the fundamentals of China’s electronic information manufacturing sector remain sound, with the industry moving toward greater clustering and more refined division of labor. But core technology breakthroughs, he cautioned, demand sustained efforts, including sustained policy support.
While measures such as R&D expense deductions and tax incentives have benefited many companies in this industry, Xu said that national-level projects often set high thresholds on revenue and patent counts, making them difficult for most specialized small and medium-sized enterprises to apply for.
What companies need most, he said, is backing for long-cycle R&D instead of evaluating projects solely on short-term revenue, alongside government-enabled industry chain matchmaking platforms and improved talent policies. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
