(Yicai) Sept. 18 -- China’s investment in intellectual property rose over 9 percent in the first eight months of this year, bucking a decline in overall fixed-asset investment as spending on software, databases, and technological research continued to grow.

From January to August, IP product investment growth edged up to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in the January-to-July period even as overall fixed-asset investment fell 7.2 percent year on year, according to data recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The divergence reflects a broader shift in China’s investment mix from scale expansion toward technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and supporting infrastructure.

“Investment in IP products has been growing fast in recent years," NBS Deputy Director Mao Shengyong said earlier, adding that the category grew by more than 9 percent a year on average from 2023 to 2025 and totaled more than CNY6.9 trillion last year.

The boost means that IP products are gaining weight in the overall mix. In the first eight months, investment in IP reached CNY4.45 trillion (USD664.3 billion), accounting for 15.2 percent of the country’s nearly CNY30 trillion in fixed-asset investment. The share was 2.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Software, R&D Drive Growth

In the age of artificial intelligence, IP spending is increasingly shifting toward technology-driven intangible assets.

In the first eight months, the main growth drivers were computer software and databases and research and development, with investment rising 10.9 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively, NBS spokesperson Wang Guanhua said at a recent press conference. The two categories together accounted for more than 95 percent of the total, he added.

In China, IP product investment comprises four areas: computer software and databases, R&D, mineral exploration and evaluation, and original works of literature and art, Mao said previously. Of these, software, databases, and R&D account for more than 90 percent of the total, he noted.

The rapid growth in China mirrors a broader global shift toward intangible assets. Global intangible investment exceeded USD10 trillion in 2025 and has grown almost four times faster than tangible investment since 2008, according to a recent report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The WIPO report defines intangible assets as including organizational know-how, R&D, software and databases, brands, designs, and other IP. For example, most of an electric vehicle’s value is now reflected in battery technology, software, and branding rather than steel and the vehicle body. Large language models -- the AI behind today’s chatbots -- go even further: they have almost no physical form, with their value relying entirely on research, data, and software.

Editor: Emmi Laine