Xinhua | Operating Resilience Shines, Innovation Adds Vitality: SSE-Listed Companies Deliver Steady Progress in 2025 Performance

On April 30, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) released the overall 2025 operating results of SSE Main Board and SSE STAR Market companies. As of April 30, 2,314 SSE companies had completed their 2025 annual report disclosures, reporting total operating revenue of RMB 51.09 trillion and net profit of RMB 4.46 trillion.

Overall, in 2025, the SSE Main Board continued to demonstrate its blue-chip characteristics, with steady and improving operational quality, ongoing optimization of industrial structure, and solid steps taken in transformation and upgrading, further highlighting the stability and resilience of its role as a market "ballast". SSE STAR Market companies showed progress toward higher quality and innovation, radiating vibrant energy. The SSE STAR Market has gradually become the core hub for the capital market to serve the development of new productive forces, presenting the resilience, innovation vitality, and growth potential of tech enterprises through solid data and tangible practice, unfolding the narrative of China's technological innovation.

Steady and Improving Operating Performance

In 2025, SSE Main Board companies collectively achieved operating revenue of RMB 49.49 trillion, a slight decrease of 0.2% year-on-year, and net profit of RMB 4.40 trillion, an increase of 0.5% year-on-year. Over the past five years, SSE Main Board companies have recorded compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 4.4% for revenue and 5.9% for net profit.

Among them, leading companies performed steadily. SSE 50 companies saw net profit grow by 4.6%, while SSE 180 companies continued to contribute nearly 70% of total revenue and over 90% of total net profit, with revenue and net profit increasing by 0.6% and 2.8% respectively, significantly outperforming the overall average. Over the past five years, SSE 180 companies have achieved a CAGR of 4.9% for revenue and 7.3% for net profit, underscoring their role as the blue-chip ballast.

In 2025, the operating scale and development quality of SSE STAR Market companies reached new heights. The 608 SSE STAR Market companies collectively achieved operating revenue of RMB 1.60 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%; over 70% of companies achieved revenue growth, an increase of 4.93 percentage points year-on-year, with 72 companies posting growth exceeding 50%; 321 companies recorded record-high revenue, and 61 reached the milestone of RMB 5 billion. The 608 SSE STAR Market companies collectively achieved net profit attributable to parent company shareholders of RMB 58.624 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.6%; nearly 60% of companies achieved net profit growth, an increase of 7.40 percentage points year-on-year, with 39 companies doubling their profits and 52 companies turning losses into profits.

Enabled by the precise empowerment of differentiated institutional arrangements made by the SSE STAR Market, the growth drivers of SSE STAR Growth Tier companies have continued to accumulate and accelerate. The 40 SSE STAR Growth Tier companies collectively achieved operating revenue of RMB 100.968 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37.18%, leading the entire market in revenue growth; they recorded an overall net loss attributable to parent company shareholders of RMB 11.15 billion, narrowing by 56.21% year-on-year. Among them, six companies including BeiGene, Cambricon, and Innocare achieved profitability for the first time, becoming the first batch of "graduates" from the SSE STAR Growth Tier.

Strong Momentum in Innovation and R&D

In 2025, SSE companies continued to increase their investment in technological innovation, with total R&D expenditure exceeding RMB 1 trillion, reaching RMB 1.11 trillion. This presents a promising trend in developing new productive forces.

By sector, SSE Main Board companies collectively invested RMB 924.5 billion in R&D, a year-on-year increase of 4%. High R&D investment has led to breakthroughs in core technologies.

Notably, "First Set (of Major Technical Equipment)" led globally: Dongfang Electric independently developed the G15H, the world's first 15-megawatt-class pure hydrogen gas turbine; Sinomach Heavy Equipment successfully developed the world's largest mechanical 168MN hot die forging press. In terms of strengthening and securing strategic industrial chains, Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable took the lead in completing kilometer-level mass production of hollow-core optical fibers, becoming the world's only company to independently master and industrialize the three major mainstream optical fibre preform manufacturing processes, achieving a 100% self-sufficiency rate for high-end products. For breakthroughs in key products, GigaDevice achieved mass production of 45nm node SPI NOR Flash memory, while Shengyi Technology's M9-grade copper-clad laminate and Honghe Technology's high-end electronic fabric broke the long-standing overseas monopoly.

Turning to the SSE STAR Market, R&D investment reached RMB 189.247 billion, maintaining a nearly 13% R&D intensity for seven consecutive years, ranking first among all A-share sectors in terms of R&D intensity. The SSE STAR Market's cumulative R&D investment has approached RMB 900 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% over the past three years.

As of the end of 2025, the number of R&D personnel on the SSE STAR Market exceeded 260,000, accounting for nearly 30% of total employees. In 2025, more than 20,000 new invention patents were added, bringing the cumulative total to over 150,000 invention patents. Three companies including Allist received the China Patent Gold Award, while companies such as Trina Solar and JinkoSolar jointly established China's first photovoltaic industry patent pool. A total of 148 SSE STAR Market companies (counting repeat participants) have led or participated in projects that have won national-level major awards such as the National Science and Technology Award. Over the past five years, SSE STAR Market companies have led or participated in 659 national key R&D programs and chaired or participated in the formulation of more than 3,400 national standards.

Independent innovation supports the stability, security, and strengthening of industrial chains. Leading semiconductor equipment companies such as AMEC and Piotech continue to break through technical barriers, gradually increasing the self-sufficiency rate of high-end semiconductor equipment in China. Semiconductor material companies such as Xi'an ESWIN Material have achieved technological breakthroughs in key areas, ensuring the stability of chip manufacturing supply.

"Technology going global" has achieved a leap from quantitative to qualitative change. For example, Sany Renewable Energy's cumulative overseas orders exceeded RMB 10 billion in 2025, setting a new record for single-unit capacity in the Central Asian market. Biokin's EGFR×HER3 bispecific antibody became the first in its class globally to complete Phase III clinical studies, propelling China's cancer targeted therapy R&D into the global first tier.

M&A and Restructuring Activities Increasingly Active

2025 marked the first full calendar year following the implementation of the "Six M&A Measures". Driven by supportive policies and market demand, SSE Main Board companies added nearly 900 new asset restructuring transactions from the beginning of 2025 to the end of the first quarter of 2026, with a total value approaching RMB 1 trillion. Among these, 72 new major asset restructuring transactions were disclosed, with a transaction scale exceeding RMB 300 billion, presenting a new ecosystem of "optimizing existing assets and focusing on the long term".

Typical cases have emerged one after another. Large-scale and innovative mergers by absorption have been continuously introduced. Hong Kong-listed company Zhejiang Expressway proposed to absorb by merger SSE company Zhenyang Development, achieving dual "A+H" listings for its RMB 100 billion market cap high-speed assets. China Shenhua completed the M&A of RMB 133.6 billion in coal and power assets, strengthening its integrated "coal-electricity-chemicals-transportation" closed loop. M&A transformation supports high-quality development. Songfa Ceramics acquired heavy shipbuilder Hengli Heavy Industry for RMB 8 billion, transforming into high-end equipment manufacturing; Wego Blood Purification acquired pre-filling syringe leader Wego Prefills for RMB 8.5 billion, expanding into upstream biopharmaceutical products such as high-end filters.

Since the release of the SSE STAR Market Eight Measures in June 2024, the SSE STAR Market has cumulatively added over 200 industrial M&A transactions, with a disclosed transaction value exceeding RMB 106 billion. Among these, 56 transactions involved major asset reorganization or share issuance for asset acquisitions, exceeding the total number of such transactions in all years prior to the release of the SSE STAR Market Eight Measures. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) proposed to issue shares to acquire SMIC North, a transaction valued at RMB 40.6 billion, making it the largest restructuring transaction since the inception of SSE STAR Market. Over 70 M&A transactions on the STAR Market involved the acquisition of unprofitable technology companies, and over 20 involved cross-border M&A, with institutional designs better aligned with the development of new productive forces and the globalization needs of enterprises.

Meanwhile, the SSE STAR Market's refinancing approach of "supporting high-quality and tech-focused companies and enhancing efficiency" has become evident. In 2025, 45 companies of the SSE STAR Market  announced refinancing proposals, planning to raise a total of RMB 47 billion, a year-on-year increase of 65%. Since 2026, following the release of the SSE's optimized refinancing package measures, market resources have accelerated their concentration in key areas of new productive forces. The financing needs of high-R&D companies have been precisely met. Five refinancing cases involving "asset-light, high-R&D-investment" companies, including Orbbec and Piotech, have made substantial progress in the review and registration process. To date, this policy is applicable to 16 companies in total, planning to raise over RMB 33.3 billion cumulatively.