(Yicai) Oct. 16 -- China’s research and experimental development spending has maintained stable growth, surpassing CNY3.9 trillion (USD583 billion) for the first time in a year in 2025, with enterprise R&D spending exceeding CNY3 trillion for the first time.

China’s total R&D investment rose 8.2 percent to CNY3.93 trillion last year from the year before, providing strong support for building the country into a science and technology powerhouse, according to the 2025 Statistical Bulletin on Science and Technology Expenditure jointly released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance today.

Corporate R&D spending increased 7.7 percent to CNY3.04 trillion, R&D spending by government-affiliated research institutes jumped 8.1 percent to CNY457.2 billion (USD68.3 billion), and R&D spending by universities climbed more than 11 percent to CNY340.7 billion. Firms, government-affiliated research institutes, and universities are the three main executors of China’s R&D activities.

Companies have a solid position as the main drivers of sci-tech innovation, said Luo Qiushi, statistician at the NBS’ department of social, sci-tech, and cultural statistics. Enterprise R&D spending accounted for 77.4 percent of the total last year, staying above 77 percent for the fourth consecutive year. Government-affiliated research institutes and universities contributed 11.6 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, basically unchanged from 2024.

China’s investment on basic research surged 13.3 percent to CNY283.5 billion in 2025 from the year before, 5.1 percentage points faster than the average increase and maintaining double-digit growth momentum, according to the report. It accounted for 7.2 percent of the total last year, up from 6.9 percent in 2024.

Last year, China’s basic research spending ranked second worldwide after the United States and was about 2.3 times that of third-ranked Japan and 2.8 times that of fourth-ranked South Korea, the report also showed.

The number of Chinese provincial-level regions with R&D spending exceeding CNY100 billion rose to 13 in 2025 from 12 the previous year, according to the report, of which six had R&D spending of over CNY200 billion, unchanged in the period.

The combined R&D spending of China’s three major innovation hubs -- the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, and Guangdong province -- accounted for 58.8 percent of the national total in 2025, up from 58.4 percent the year before.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione