Beijing Quietly Gets a Head Start - 36Kr

Beijing’s first-half 2026 GDP rose 5.4% year on year to 2.64 trillion yuan, beating the national average.

Growth still rests on a strong service base, headquarters concentration, and financial strength, but low-end industry exits have made room for new sectors.

Integrated-circuit value added jumped 92.1%, while AI and the digital economy expanded quickly, underscoring Beijing’s hard-tech shift.

A growing pipeline of firms and research institutions is helping turn Beijing into a major semiconductor and AI hub, with long-term innovation gains.