As the dust barely settles on “Made in China 2025”, China is intensifying its quest for technological supremacy with a focus on “future industries” amid its escalating rivalry with the United States. Authorities are pushing boundaries in their pursuit of a new growth model centered on technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrades. First introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2020, the term “future industries” refers to sectors with foundational technologies still in their infancy but expected to possess enormous potential. The 2021-25 Five Year Plan highlighted brain-inspired intelligence, quantum information, gene technology, future networks, deep-sea and aerospace development, and hydrogen energy and storage as areas where China aims to secure an early lead. That list is now expanding, as the government gradually adds new priority sectors.
In 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released guidelines identifying target areas, including humanoid robots, 6G network equipment, brain-computer interfaces, large-scale AI data centers and next-generation large aircraft. What progress has been made so far? Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, has been touted as China’s newest “Silicon Valley” – and local tech start-ups have attracted global attention. Among these are six stand-out companies, nicknamed the “Six Little Dragons”: DeepSeek; Game Science, the developer behind Black Myth: Wukong; robotics firms Unitree and Deep Robotics; BrainCo, a company inspired by Neuralink; and Manycore, specializing in spatial intelligence. China now hosts 56% of the world’s publicly traded humanoid companies and 45% of humanoid system integrators, according to Morgan Stanley.
Meanwhile, China's biotech sector is undergoing rapid growth. As of March 2025, the country had approved five Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies – mainly for hematological cancers – ranking second only to the U.S., which has six. Domestic biotech companies like WuXi AppTec have grown into global leaders. A U.S. congressional commission dubbed the firm the “Huawei equivalent for biotechnology”, warning it could enable the Chinese government to “control a global supply chain”.
What’s next? Beijing is pouring unprecedented resources into future industries – from funding to talent cultivation – recognizing their strategic value for sustainable growth. To promote breakthroughs, MIIT introduced a new innovation model in 2023 under which specific challenges are posted publicly. Companies or research teams that solve them within two years receive priority access to support and funding. This year, the government is targeting breakthroughs in quantum technology, atomic-level manufacturing and clean hydrogen. Despite a generally bleak job market, cutting-edge tech companies – such as those in the humanoid robotics sector – report a shortage of skilled talent, prompting them to offer salaries of up to four times the national urban average to attract experienced engineers and developers.
To facilitate financing for tech companies, China plans to resume listings of unprofitable start-ups on its technology boards, according to Wu Qing, Director of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), at the Lujiazui Forum in June. At the same forum, Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced that Shanghai would pioneer new financial tools, including blockchain-based trade finance and innovation bonds. These will feature risk-sharing mechanisms and support for private equity firms issuing tech innovation bonds, the South China Morning Post reports.
China is also narrowing the gap with the U.S. in space exploration. It aims to build a permanent base called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) near the moon’s south pole by 2035, and the planning is already under way. In 2023, more than 100 researchers from universities, laboratories, and space companies gathered in Wuhan for the first major planning meeting. Since then, a team has worked out how to bake lunar bricks using simulated soil and sent them to China’s Tiangong space station for testing under extreme space conditions. China hopes to make its first real brick on the moon in 2028, during the Chang’e-8 mission. A team in the central province of Anhui has built a 3D printer that uses concentrated sunlight to melt lunar soil into bricks that are strong enough for roads and buildings. They have also developed a prototype to extract water from ice, using a bundle of tiny drill needles to heat the lunar soil, release vapor and collect it.
China also plans to beat the U.S. in bringing back rocks from Mars. China’s Tianwen-3 mission, now in development, aims to collect and return at least 500 grams of Martian soil samples by 2031. There is also a real possibility that China could overtake the U.S. in solar system exploration. Nasa’s science program is facing deep budget cuts, putting missions to Venus, Jupiter, near-earth asteroids, and even the distant Kuiper Belt at risk – including some that are already in space. China, meanwhile, is forging ahead. It recently launched Tianwen-2, a mission to collect samples from a near-earth asteroid, and is planning Tianwen-4, which will target Jupiter and Uranus for a rare leap into the outer solar system.
