> Behind the 51.3% growth rate is the deep integration of financial policies with the real economy, as well as China’s firm steps towards transforming manufacturing into ‘Intelligent Manufacturing’.
In August 2025, Hebi, Henan. At the development base of the “Houyi No. 1” commercial launch vehicle project, engineers are conducting acceptance tests on the components of the rocket. The project leader pointed to the assembled rocket structure and told reporters: “The timely arrival of a 250 million yuan R&D loan allows us to simultaneously advance the development of the prototype, overall scheme verification, and ground testing, making the planned first flight in 2027 more secure.”
This funding comes from a special loan from the Henan branch of the China Development Bank, which is just a small part of the 385 billion yuan in loans issued by the bank for advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries in the first seven months of this year.
01 Loan Surge: A Timely Rain for Manufacturing
According to the latest data from the China Development Bank, from January to July 2025, the bank issued 385 billion yuan in loans to advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, a significant year-on-year increase of 51.3%.
This growth rate far exceeds the average growth level of general loans, indicating that policy-based finance is supporting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry with unprecedented strength.
The loans are highly concentrated in key industrial chains such as integrated circuits, domestically produced large aircraft, high-end equipment manufacturing, and new materials. These fields share the common characteristics of being technology-intensive and capital-intensive, and they are crucial to national industrial security and competitiveness.
The China Development Bank adopts a “one enterprise, one policy” approach to customize financial service plans, focusing on providing medium- to long-term financing support for key industrial chains and projects. This precise drip irrigation model effectively addresses the financing difficulties faced by manufacturing enterprises.
02 Regional Practices: Differentiated Authorization Achieves Results
Under the premise of controllable risks, the China Development Bank has increased differentiated authorization for local branches serving advanced manufacturing clusters and innovative industrial clusters.
The practices of the Shanghai branch are particularly representative. In response to the high demand for R&D funding from local manufacturing enterprises, this branch has increased the issuance of R&D loans, successfully supporting 15 enterprises in multiple fields such as high-end equipment manufacturing and new energy vehicles.
The “Houyi No. 1” commercial launch vehicle project in Hebi, Henan, received a 250 million yuan R&D loan from the Henan branch of the China Development Bank, with a term of five years. This funding will support the development of the rocket prototype, overall scheme verification, production and acceptance of rocket components, and large-scale ground testing.
The Liaoning branch, on the other hand, has utilized various financial products to provide medium- to long-term financing support for enterprises such as Shenyang Siasun Robot and Ansteel Group, focusing on four trillion-level industrial bases and 22 key industrial clusters in the province.
03 Technical Challenges: Long-term Financial Support for Innovation
Technological breakthroughs in manufacturing often require long-term and sustained investment. In response to this characteristic, the China Development Bank provides ultra-long-term credit support of up to 15-20 years.
This “funding relay baton” mechanism effectively alleviates the short-term pressure of R&D investment for enterprises, helping key technological breakthroughs transition from the laboratory to industrialization.
The case of Hubei ChipQing Technology is particularly typical. In Q2 2025, the company completed over 1 billion yuan in Series B strategic financing to tackle the mass production of 7nm automotive chips. This funding will accelerate the deployment of the Longying No. 2 series chips in vehicles by 2026.
ChipQing Technology has become a leading enterprise in the domestic automotive chip field, with a market share of 38% in intelligent cockpit chips, surpassing Huawei’s Ascend and Horizon, and even entering the supply chain of Volkswagen’s ID.7 European version.
04 Service Model: Full Lifecycle Coverage
Financial services are transitioning from simple financing to full lifecycle services. The China Development Bank is building a new ecosystem for manufacturing development through a three-in-one service model of “technology demand matching + supply chain finance + achievement transformation incubation”.
In key industrial chains such as integrated circuits, financial services have extended from front-end equipment procurement to back-end market promotion, forming a financing support network that covers the entire lifecycle.
The practices of the Shanghai branch of CITIC Bank provide another perspective. This branch breaks through traditional credit logic, evaluating credit from an investment banking perspective and viewing debt business from an equity perspective, tailoring differentiated credit strategies for technology enterprises.
In 2022, this branch granted an 800 million yuan credit limit to Shanghai Hejian Industrial Software Group Co., Ltd., helping the company become a leading enterprise in China’s EDA sector.
05 Industrial Transformation: From Single Point Breakthrough to Cluster Development
Manufacturing investment is showing significant new characteristics: the proportion of policy-based funding has significantly increased, regionally distinctive financial scenarios are accelerating implementation, and the financing cycle for technological innovation has been greatly extended.
The development trajectory in Liaoning demonstrates regional transformation. The Liaoning branch of the China Development Bank has helped local enterprises overcome technological bottlenecks by allocating resources and utilizing a comprehensive product mix. In four trillion-level industrial bases and 22 key industrial clusters, financial services cover the full scene demands of the equipment manufacturing industry’s upgrade to high-tech, the petrochemical industry’s downstream extension, and the metallurgy and new materials industry’s deep processing expansion.
The roadshow activity of the Foshan New Energy Industry Fund showcases the efforts of local governments. Recently, this fund held its first project roadshow matching meeting, gathering six enterprises and 17 investment institutions, with a total financing demand of 350 million yuan, involving multiple cutting-edge technology fields such as micro-intelligent vehicles, new energy, semiconductor chips, and low-altitude economy.
06 Future Outlook: Trillions of Yuan in Funding on the Way
With the comprehensive implementation of the “Guiding Opinions on Financial Support for New Industrialization”, it is expected that the scale of medium- to long-term loans for manufacturing will exceed one trillion yuan in the next three years.
The head of the industrial and technological innovation business department of the China Development Bank stated that the next step will be to actively provide medium- to long-term financing support for key industrial chain technologies and product breakthroughs, strengthening financial services for characteristic industrial clusters and key enterprises.
Data shows that when financial institutions deeply participate in the reconstruction of industrial chains, every 1 yuan of special credit investment can drive 3-5 times the follow-up of social capital. This multiplier effect will continue to unleash the surging momentum of China’s manufacturing transformation and upgrading.
Manufacturing is the foundation of the real economy, and finance is the blood of the modern economy. When the two are deeply integrated, it accelerates China’s transition from a major manufacturing country to a strong manufacturing country.
In the production line of a semiconductor company in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai, a new generation of chips is being mass-produced. The company’s financial director pointed to the operating equipment and said: “Thanks to the bank’s forward-looking predictions and professional strategies, we were able to lock in the euro exchange rate in advance, saving 2 million yuan on the cost of importing key equipment!”
In the “Big Zero Bay” of Minhang, a biopharmaceutical company relies on its self-developed center, holding over a hundred patent IPs, with 19 projects in over 20 well-known hospitals rushing for clinical trials. The Minhang branch of SPD Bank provided 5 million yuan in credit funding to support the company’s R&D investment through a multi-dimensional value assessment model analyzing the company’s intellectual property and research achievements.
385 billion yuan is just the beginning. As financial support continues to increase, China’s manufacturing industry is ushering in its best development era. From chips to large aircraft, from new materials to high-end equipment, Chinese manufacturing is climbing to the top of the global value chain.