(Yicai) Dec. 24 -- China’s centrally managed state-owned enterprises raised their fixed-asset investment, excluding real estate, by 0.7 percent to CNY3.3 trillion (USD470 billion) in January to November from a year ago, with investment in emerging industries delivering notable results.

The combined added value of SOEs directly under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission also rose 1.4 percent to CNY9.5 trillion in the period, Yicai learned at a meeting of heads of central SOEs that concluded yesterday.

Research and development spending was robust at CNY890 billion (USD126.8 billion), accounting for 2.6 percent of their total economic output.

SOEs quickened the pace of investment in emerging industries, with the size of the “AI+” initiative, which aims to integrate artificial intelligence into traditional industries and public services to boost productivity and industrial upgrading, further enlarged. It has expanded across 16 priority sectors, including energy, manufacturing, and communications, creating nearly 1,000 application scenarios.

To step up support for emerging industries, China Reform Holdings, a state assets manager under the SASAC, partnered with more than 10 central SOEs in October to set up a special fund for the strategic development of emerging industries, with initial funding of CNY51 billion (USD7.3 billion).

Over the past five years, central SOEs have together invested more than CNY5 trillion (USD712.6 billion) in R&D, according to the Xinhua report. Investment in emerging industries grew at an average annual rate of over 20 percent, while the number of scientific and technological personnel rose by nearly 50 percent in the period.

Looking ahead to next year, central SOEs should give equal weight to the transformation of traditional industries and the development of emerging industries, SASAC officials said at the meeting. Key priorities include new energy, advanced materials, aerospace, low-altitude economy, quantum technology, and sixth-generation communications.

The “AI+” initiative will be further expanded alongside a new phase of digital transformation for central SOEs, they said.

The commission also called on central SOEs to push on with technological upgrades and major equipment renewals, while intensifying energy saving and carbon reduction efforts across key sectors to accelerate the pace of industrial transformation.

Editors: Dou Shicong; Emmi Laine