China's industrial profits post double-digit growth

China's industrial profits maintained double-digit growth in the first eight months of the year, driven by robust earnings in the electronics sector and high-tech manufacturing, official data showed on Monday.

Profits at major industrial enterprises reached 5.27 trillion yuan ($782 billion) during the January to August period, up 15.7 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Growth remained strong, although it eased from 17.6 percent in the first seven months.

The electronics sector was a major growth driver, with profits surging 110 percent year-on-year and its contribution to overall industrial profit growth reaching 62 percent, the bureau noted.

Yu Weining, chief statistician at the bureau's industrial statistics department, attributed the rapid growth to the wider application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, which boosted demand in related fields.

"For instance, new energy vehicles, the internet of things and computing centers are driving up demand for chips," Yu said, noting that profits for manufacturers of optoelectronic devices and discrete semiconductors rose 72 percent and 51.8 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, profits at major high-tech manufacturers jumped 54.7 percent year-on-year in the first eight months, outpacing overall industrial profit growth by 39 percentage points, NBS data showed.

Looking ahead, Yu called for more effective macroeconomic policy support to expand domestic demand, improve supply and accelerate the transition from traditional to new growth drivers.