Hard tech emerges as mainstay of China’s high-growth firms as Hurun releases Global Gazelle Index

By Chen Tianhao

(ECNS) – Hard technology has emerged as the backbone of China’s high-growth enterprises, reflecting the country’s ongoing economic transformation, as what’s been observed by the Hurun Research Institute, with its Global Gazelles Index 2025 report released Tuesday in Beijing.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, told China News Network that as China shifts from a phase of high-speed growth to one of high-quality development, gazelles are increasingly becoming critical nodes connecting technological innovation with industrial upgrading.

According to the Index, a total of 819 gazelles were identified worldwide, spanning 43 countries and 220 cities. China ranked second globally with 278 gazelles, accounting for more than one-third of the total, trailing only the United States. Since 2019, the number of Chinese gazelles has increased from 70 to 278, showing a sustained upward trend.

Structural shifts among high-growth firms reflect China’s economic transformation

From an industry perspective, China’s gazelle companies are mainly concentrated in sectors such as biotechnology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics — areas that have been a key focus in China’s efforts to cultivate new productive forces.

Unlike earlier waves of innovation driven primarily by internet platforms and consumer-oriented services, the current cohort is more focused on hard technology and foundational innovation, characterized by longer R&D cycles, higher technological barriers and closer integration with the real economy.

Data show that more than 35 percent of global gazelles are now driven by artificial intelligence technologies. Healthcare, financial services and enterprise management solutions are among the most significantly impacted sectors.

In China, the rising share of healthcare-related gazelles reflects the effects of sustained policy support, making life sciences and medical technologies key destinations for innovation capital.

These changes echo China’s overall economic performance in 2025. Amid heightened external uncertainties, China’s economy remained generally stable, with GDP growing by around 5 percent. More importantly, the internal structure of growth continued to improve, as high-tech manufacturing, strategic emerging industries and the digital economy made increasing contributions to overall economic expansion, providing greater resilience to economic operations.

Innovation factors accelerate clustering, supporting China’s stable growth

In terms of regional distribution, China’s gazelles are primarily clustered in innovation-intensive regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen rank among the leading cities, followed by Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guangzhou. This pattern suggests that innovation factors are increasingly concentrating in regions with strong industrial foundations, research capacity and capital availability.

Although still modest in scale, Hoogewerf said, these firms feature strong growth momentum and rapid technological iteration, generating multiplier effects in enhancing industrial value chains and strengthening endogenous economic drivers. With deeper integration between technological innovation and the real economy, high-growth enterprises are expected to play a more important role in stabilizing growth, optimizing economic structure and advancing transformation.