China moves to boost private investment in major projects

China has opened a new batch of key projects to private capital, authorities said Tuesday, pledging to improve services and expand opportunities for private firms as part of a broader push to boost private investment.

The space for private capital to take part in major national and regional projects is steadily widening, Li Chao, spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, told a press conference in Beijing.

In the water conservancy sector, water network construction attracted more than 10.8 billion yuan (about 1.61 billion U.S. dollars) in private investment in the first half of the year, up 85.8 percent year on year. In the direct supply of green power to users, private capital is involved in half of the projects approved so far.

"Efforts to secure key resources for private investment are being stepped up. Take the 2026 new policy-based financial instruments as an example: all three projects in the China Development Bank's first batch of funding involve private capital, spanning energy storage, green new materials and expressways. In Fujian Province, the first batch of 500 million yuan in funding support four private investment projects, covering port berths, green new materials and other fields," said Li.

Earlier this month, the NDRC introduced another 36 projects in key transportation and logistics sectors, with an estimated total investment of 61.4 billion yuan and 15.6 billion yuan expected to come from private capital.

"Next, we will work with relevant parties to keep improving services and support, open a dedicated channel for private firms to report specific problems encountered in projects, and actively coordinate solutions so that projects can be implemented as early as possible. We will also leverage our regular communication and problem-solving mechanism with private firms, improve the mechanism for regularly introducing projects, and expand opportunities for private firms to invest in quality projects to boost private investment," Li said.

China moves to boost private investment in major projects

China on Tuesday released the 2026 list of the country's top 500 private enterprises, with 110 companies reporting operating revenue of over 100 billion yuan (about 14.94 billion U.S. dollars), underscoring robust growth in the country's private sector.

JD.com, Alibaba (China) Co., Ltd., and Hengli Group Co., Ltd. retained the top three positions, according to the 2026 China Top 500 Private Enterprises list unveiled by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) in Tianjin, north China.

This marks the 28th large-scale private enterprise survey conducted by the ACFIC. A total of 6,350 companies, each with operating revenue of over 1 billion yuan in 2025, participated in the survey this year. The top 500 companies by revenue make up the list.

The survey showed that in 2025, China's private enterprises continued to improve their innovation capacity, operating efficiency and core competitiveness, demonstrating an overall trend toward new and higher-quality development.

The top 500 private enterprises reported total operating revenue of 44.93 trillion yuan in 2025, up 4.35 percent from a year earlier. They also saw a combined net profit of 1.83 trillion yuan, with 17 companies each posting over 20 billion yuan in net profit.

Manufacturing companies on the top 500 private enterprises list recorded total operating revenue of 32.22 trillion yuan, up 8.73 percent year on year.

The top 500 are actively positioning themselves in strategic emerging and future industries. Of those that provided relevant data, 311 companies invested in 679 strategic emerging industry projects, and 82 launched 112 future industry projects.

On innovation, the top 500 companies that provided relevant data reported total research and development spending of 1.26 trillion yuan, with research and development investment averaging 2.95 percent of revenue, according to the survey.

In addition, the top 500 paid 1.3 trillion yuan in taxes last year, with 254 companies each paying over 1 billion yuan.

China unveils top 500 private enterprises for 2026