China's central SOEs up investment in new infrastructure

BEIJING — China's centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are ramping up investment in new types of infrastructure to facilitate industrial transformation, data from the country's top State-asset regulator showed.

In 2021, over 700 subsidiaries of nearly 70 central SOEs invested a total of 400 billion yuan (about $59.6 billion) in new infrastructure, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

For the 2021-2025 period, the companies plan to invest in more than 1,300 new infrastructure projects, with investment amounting to over 10 trillion yuan.

New infrastructure refers to infrastructure that is digital, smart, and innovative, including projects related to 5G networks, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.

Net profits of central SOEs expanded 5.6 percent year-on-year in the first four months of the year, the commission has said.