Dozens of UBTECH industrial humanoid robots carry out training tasks at a smart factory in the Qianwan New Area in Ningbo, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on March 1, 2025. Photo: VCG

　　Profits at China"s major industrial firms were up 15.5 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2026, driven by strong growth in electronics and high-tech manufacturing, as rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI), computing infrastructure and other emerging technologies helped boost industrial profitability, official data showed on Tuesday.

　　Industrial firms with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) reported combined profits of 6.03 trillion yuan from January to September, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Profits increased 14.4 percent year-on-year in September.

　　Industrial production remained steady, while the cumulative profit growth rate at major industrial firms has stayed in double digits so far this year, reflecting continued progress in the high-quality development of China"s industrial economy, the NBS said.

　　The electronics industry saw steady improvements in operational efficiency and performance, emerging as a key driver of industrial profit growth. Profits in the sector doubled year-on-year in the first nine months, contributing 9.6 percentage points to the 15.5 percent increase in overall industrial profits.

　　The increase was partly driven by rising demand for AI computing power and advanced memory technologies. Profits in electronic specialty material manufacturing surged 220 percent, while those in semiconductor device manufacturing rose 51.7 percent.