China’s private sector increases presence among top 100 listed companies
US think tank’s report says non-state sector is bouncing back from three-year slump
That represented an increase of 2.4 percentage points from the first half of last year, the Washington-based think tank said in a report released on Tuesday that also highlighted a marked rebound from a low of 33.5 per cent in the first half of 2024.
The data confirms the “three-year relative decline of the private sector’s share between mid-2021 and mid-2024 did not mark a permanent reversal of its spectacular rise over the previous decade”, it said in the report, which includes companies listed in China or overseas and is compiled twice a year.
The private sector’s share peaked at 55.4 per cent in mid-2021, it added.
In the first half of last year, established technology giants such as Tencent, Alibaba, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), Xiaomi and BYD were joined in the top 100 ranking by a growing number of consumer brands – including Pop Mart, Mixue Bingcheng and Laopu Gold. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
Several new hi-tech manufacturers from the private sector joined the list in the second half of 2025, including optical transceiver maker Eoptolink Technology, graphics processing unit producer Moore Threads Technology, circuit-board maker Victory Giant Technology, and AI chipmaker MetaX Integrated Circuits.
“China’s political leaders have publicly celebrated the rise of these private-sector champions of the country’s ‘new economy’, one in which growth will be fuelled more by hi-tech manufacturing, decarbonisation and innovation, and less by housing and infrastructure development,” the report said.