BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions and trade frictions weighing on the global economy, China has delivered solid growth in the first half (H1) of 2026, with the country's economic performance showing renewed vitality and resilience.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 4.7 percent year on year in H1, official data showed on Wednesday. This figure remains well within the government's annual target range of 4.5 to 5 percent.
In the six-month period, China's GDP increased by 3.6 trillion yuan (about 530 billion U.S. dollars), marking the largest increase for the same period in nearly five years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Chinese economy has operated within an appropriate range against pressure, and its resilience has been remarkably strong, said Mao Shengyong, deputy head of the NBS.
A closer look at the data reveals powerful pillars underpinning the vitality and resilience of the world's second-largest economy, namely surging new growth engines, booming artificial intelligence (AI) and a fortified energy foundation.
NEW ENGINE GAINING MOMENTUM
How many chips does China produce every day? NBS spokesperson Wang Guanhua gave the official statistical answer: over 1.5 billion pieces.
In H1, China's integrated circuit output surged 23.1 percent year on year to 279.8 billion units, Wang revealed at a press conference on Wednesday. "This number is enormous," she said, calling it a vivid testament to the momentum driving China's semiconductor industry.
Beyond integrated circuits, smart products including 5G smartphones, 3D printing devices and service robots also posted rapid growth. Wang noted that the quick expansion of these sectors epitomizes the accelerating transition between China's old and new growth drivers.
Preliminary calculations showed that new growth engines contributed nearly half of the industrial growth, serving as key engines driving industrial expansion, she said.
Echoing Wang's view, Mao further highlighted the contribution of new growth drivers to the entire economy. "New growth drivers, represented by high-end manufacturing, the digital economy and modern services, contributed more than 40 percent to economic growth," he noted.
According to Mao, new drivers encompass not only sectors that represent new technologies and emerging frontiers, but also traditional industries that have achieved green transformation, quality upgrading and improved performance through digital retrofitting.
Analysts pointed out that investment flows directly reflect market confidence in these new growth engines.
In the January-June period, investment in China's high-tech industries climbed 4.6 percent, while investment in intellectual property products rose by 9.4 percent year on year, further speeding up compared to the first quarter.
The structural changes in China's economy demonstrate that the country's emphasis on cultivating new quality productive forces has moved beyond policy documents and taken concrete shape across industries, said Yin Xiang, an associate researcher from Sichuan University, located in southwest China.
AI INDUSTRY BOOM
For economists observing China's growth, "token" would be an indispensable keyword to describe the country's economic performance in the first half of 2026.
At Wednesday's press conference, Wang noted that China's average daily token usage has reached several hundred trillion, demonstrating the vitality and potential of the digital and intelligent economies.
Tokens, the basic units that AI models use to process information, have become a barometer of industry development and a key indicator of AI adoption.
As early as March this year, national daily token calls exceeded 140 trillion, representing a more than 1,000-fold surge from 100 billion at the beginning of 2024, according to data released by the National Data Administration.
NBS data also revealed that AI-related industries, such as intelligent in-vehicle equipment manufacturing, all maintained growth rates exceeding 30 percent in the first six months of 2026.
As the AI industrial chain continues to evolve, China is set to see surging volumes of AI products. It is expected that in 2026, sales of AI smartphones and AI computers will surpass those of non-AI products for the first time. This follows China's annual shipments of AI smartphones and other intelligent terminals surpassing 100 million units in 2025.
In late June, the World Economic Forum announced its list of newly recognized "lighthouse factories" -- a designation for manufacturers that excel in deploying advanced technologies. Over half of the 16 factories are located in China, a fact that underlines the significant achievements of AI and digital technologies in empowering manufacturing transformation, Wang said.
Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities, noted that China's AI boom has also become a new engine driving foreign trade expansion, helping to meet surging global demand for AI-related products, including computing power, data centers and terminal equipment.
ENERGY FORTRESS
While surging token calls reflect the explosion of computing power in the digital realm, the expansion of installed capacity underscores solid progress in the physical economy, providing a stable energy foundation amid global energy turmoil.
Since March, geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have severely disrupted global energy supplies. China has responded by ramping up domestic production while diversifying imports.
NBS data showed that in H1, China's domestic crude oil, natural gas and electricity production all hit record highs for the same period.
In terms of electricity production, China's power generation capacity reached 4.01 billion kilowatts by the end of May, ranking first in the world.
With this solid foundation of 4.01 billion kilowatts, China is leveraging large-scale, low-cost green electricity to build a robust energy base that supports industrial transformation and upgrading, ensures people's livelihoods, and nurtures emerging industries.
Mao noted that while rising global energy prices have intensified inflationary pressures worldwide, China's supply and price stabilization policies have proven effective.
Citing increasing uncertainties including the Middle East geopolitical tensions, the International Monetary Fund earlier this month cut its forecast for global economic growth this year to 3 percent, but raised its forecast for China's full-year growth by 0.2 percentage points, making China one of the few major economies to receive an upward revision.
The vitality and resilience demonstrated by China's economy have provided valuable support for the increasingly uncertain global economy, said Kuang Xianming, deputy head of the China Institute for Reform and Development. ■
