Highlights

• China's MIIT declared 2025 industrial targets successfully completed with above-scale industrial value added rising 5.9%.
• High-tech manufacturing grew by 9.4%, maintaining the country's #1 global manufacturing position for the 16th consecutive year.
• MIIT announced strategic technology breakthroughs:
  • Integrated circuits up 26.7%
  • Electronic materials up 23.9%
  • RMB 60 billion AI investment fund
  • 300+ key 6G technology reserves
  • 4.838 million 5G base stations covering nearly all townships
• China explicitly lists permanent magnet materials among internationally advanced technologies.
• 35,000+ smart factories deployed, signaling continued state-directed scaling in advanced materials, power electronics, and industrial AI.
• Western supply chains remain vulnerable in these areas.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (opens in a new tab) (MIIT) used a January 21, 2026 State Council press briefing to declare that its 2025 industrial and IT development targets were “successfully completed,” framing the year as “stable, progressing, new, and dynamic.” MIIT claims above-scale industrial value added rose 5.9%, telecom services grew 9.1%, and China’s manufacturing scale remained #1 globally for a 16th year.

The ministry highlighted faster growth in high-tech manufacturing (+9.4%) and equipment manufacturing (+9.2%), alongside an aggressive push into “smart factories”—claiming 35,000+ basic, 8,200+ advanced, and 500+ “excellent” smart factories, plus 15 “leader” factories designed as exportable models of Chinese industrial digitization.

Zhang Yunming, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

For Western and U.S. stakeholders, the most consequential signals are the ones tied to technology sovereignty and strategic supply chains. MIIT touts “breakthroughs” in major equipment (e.g., heavy gas turbines, ultra-large tunnel boring machines), rapid momentum in chips and electronic materials (it cites integrated circuits +26.7% and electronic specialty materials +23.9% value-added growth), and a deepening AI-plus-manufacturing strategy backed by a national AI industry investment fund of RMB 60 billion.

It also claims 6G Phase-1 technical trials produced 300+ key technology “reserves,” and that China has 4.838 million 5G base stations, with 5G reaching nearly all townships and most administrative villages—an infrastructure base that can accelerate industrial automation and defense-adjacent applications. Notably for Rare Earth Exchanges™ readers, MIIT explicitly lists permanent magnet materials among “internationally advanced” technologies—an on-the-record reminder that China views magnet-grade materials as a strategic edge, reinforcing why ex-China rare earth projects must prioritize separation, metals, and magnet manufacturing, not just mining. The subtext: expect continued state-directed scaling in the very nodes—advanced materials, power electronics, industrial AI—where the West is most exposed.

Disclaimer: This item is translated and summarized from a release distributed via the China Rare Earth Industry Association and attributed to China’s MIIT; as with any state-linked media or official communiqué, key figures and claims should be verified through independent sources.