China’s tech hub Shenzhen eyes 5.5% growth in 2025 as economic powerhouses take lead in driving industrial upgrades

Shenzhen, often referred to as China's Silicon Valley, on Tuesday announced its 2025 economic growth target of 5.5 percent, making it the latest major economic city in China to announce its growth goal for the year.

This frontier city located in South China's Guangdong Province vowed to expand domestic demand across the board while stabilizing external demand, and prioritize technological innovation to drive the development of new quality productive forces in the new year, according to a government work report delivered by Mayor Qin Weizhong.

The city's key economic and social targets include a 5.5 percent expansion in GDP, a 3 percent rise in local general public budget revenue, income growth for residents in line with overall economic growth, a consumer price inflation rate of about 2 percent, and the creation of 200,000 new jobs.

Innovation-driven growth is one of the main drivers of the city's economic expansion. As a hub for technological innovation, Shenzhen is home to numerous high-tech companies and research institutions, with strong innovation capabilities that continuously drive industrial upgrading and economic development, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Shenzhen excels in sectors like electronics, biomedicine, and new energy, with industrial upgrades driving steady growth. Also, as a frontline city in China's reform and opening-up, Shenzhen's continually deepening reforms will attract more investment from both domestic and overseas sources, Wang added.

Last year, Shenzhen set its GDP growth goal at 5.5 percent and later reported 5.8 percent growth, placing it among the top in terms of growth rates among major cities in China, official data showed.

Prior to Shenzhen's announcement, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in the country had announced their economic targets for 2025, among which 29 set growth targets between 5 and 6 percent, according to media reports.

Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region has set its GDP growth target at over 7 percent while aiming for 8 percent. South China's Hainan Province targets a growth rate of over 6 percent. North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Central China's Hubei Province, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have set their goals around 6 percent.

Among major economic provinces, East China's Zhejiang Province targets around 5.5 percent and Guangdong aims for around 5 percent, while East China's Jiangsu and Shandong, key manufacturing hubs, aim for above 5 percent.

Some central and western provinces have set relatively high GDP growth targets for 2025, driven by the country's proactive opening-up policy and tailored development of new quality productive forces. Xizang and Xinjiang, in particular, have the highest GDP targets, supported by ongoing trade along the Belt and Road Initiative routes and faster industrial transfers. This has expanded both international trade and domestic interprovincial investment, turning their energy and resource advantages into new engines of growth, according to Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities.

These targets reflect local optimism about economic growth, while also taking into account the current challenges. Given current economic conditions and trends, these goals appear to be well within reach, Wang said.

The economic powerhouses in particular have strengths across various sectors, allowing them to drive ongoing industrial upgrades and economic growth. They prioritize technological innovation and talent development, while emphasizing regional collaboration, Wang noted.

The agenda-setting Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2024 called for "enhancing the innovation capabilities and leading role of areas with economic development advantages, supporting major economically developed provinces to play major roles, and encouraging other regions to leverage their local conditions and advantages."

China's upcoming annual "two sessions" in March, a highly anticipated event on the country's political calendar, is expected to unveil a cluster of key economic policies that will be in the international spotlight.

"Given China's economic growth potential, our current growth capacity is around 5 percent, which means we are well-positioned to achieve this target," Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

At the same time, sustaining a sufficient rate of economic growth is key to ensuring full employment and managing risks, Wen added.

China's GDP grew 5 percent year-on-year in 2024, meeting the government's full-year target, official data showed.