Profits of foreign industrial companies in the Chinese mainland resumed positive growth in 2025 following a three-year contraction as overall industrial profits improved, signaling a renewed momentum of the industrial economy and rising foreign business confidence, official data showed on Tuesday.

According to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, foreign-funded industrial enterprises, and those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, posted profits totaling 1.74474 trillion yuan ($250.8 billion) in 2025, up 4.2 percent year-on-year.

The growth reversed a three-year downward trend, following declines of 1.7 percent in 2024, 6.7 percent in 2023 and 9.5 percent in 2022. In 2021, profits had risen by 21.1 percent.

The rebound came amid a broader recovery in industrial profitability. In 2025, nationwide industrial enterprises above the designated size recorded total profits of 7.3982 trillion yuan, marking a year-on-year increase of 0.6 percent and ending three consecutive years of decline.

"Industrial enterprise profits achieved growth for the whole year, reversing the downward trend of the past three years," said Yu Weining, chief statistician at the NBS’ Department of Industrial Statistics.

"New growth drivers, including the equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing sectors, provided strong support, while the profit structure of traditional industries continued to improve, reflecting rising quality and efficiency in industrial development," Yu said.

Manufacturing enterprises saw profits rise 5.0 percent in 2025, with the growth rate rebounding by 8.9 percentage points from 2024. High-tech manufacturing injected strong momentum into high-quality industrial growth, as profits in areas such as intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing, integrated circuit production and semiconductor equipment manufacturing all surged by more than 100 percent.

Profits of small and medium-sized industrial enterprises also turned positive. For the full year, profits of SMEs in the industrial sector rose by 1.4 percent, compared to a 1.9 percent decline in 2024, the NBS data showed.