State-owned assets regulator vows to increase tech investment in emerging sector

China will increase investment in technological innovation to bolster strategic emerging industries, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) said on Wednesday during a press conference, in a move to accelerate the country's technology advancement and foster new productive forces.

Yuan Ye, deputy director of the SASAC, said that centrally administrated state-owned enterprises (SOEs) completed 2.18 trillion yuan ($307.8 billion) of investment in strategic emerging industries in 2023, rising 32.1 percent year-on-year.

Investment in research and development reached 1.1 trillion yuan, surpassing the level of 1 trillion yuan for a second consecutive year.

Zhuang Shuxin, a spokesperson for the SASAC, noted during the press conference that the SASAC has initiated a number of new projects in photovoltaic hydrogen production, carbon fiber manufacturing and automotive chips; set up new enterprises in laser technology, quantum communication and satellite internet, and reorganized and merged companies in the areas of electronics, new energy, environmental protection and intelligent vehicle production. 

"We will build strategic emerging industry clusters and actively apply artificial intelligence technology into various sectors in order to achieve development progress in key areas of biology, new materials and new-energy vehicles," said Zhuang.

Regarding the extremely cold weather this winter, the SASAC said it will enhance the development of the new-energy sector, including hydrogen and nuclear power, power storage and virtual power plants to ensure energy security.

As of September 30, 2023, the assets of 383 listed SOEs reached 53 trillion yuan, of which 154 companies, or 40 percent, were in emerging industries.

"The SASAC will encourage centrally administrated SOEs to increase the proportion of revenue and value-added across strategic emerging industries to facilitate more companies to turn to an innovation-driven growth pattern and help foster new productive forces," said Yuan.