SHANGHAI, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai's gross domestic product (GDP) soared to over 5.67 trillion yuan (about 814.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, registering an annual growth of 5.4 percent, the municipal statistics bureau said on Wednesday.

Industries and the service sector are the main driving forces of the economic development in the financial hub in east China, as the added value of Shanghai's primary, secondary and tertiary industries stood at 9.94 billion yuan, 1.165 trillion yuan and 4.496 trillion yuan, respectively, reflecting year-on-year increases of 2 percent, 3.5 percent and 6 percent.

According to the municipal bureau of statistics in Shanghai, last year the city's industrial added value witnessed a 5 percent rise from the year before. In terms of industries, the output value of the railway, shipbuilding, aerospace and other transportation equipment manufacturing industry surged by 15.8 percent year on year. The electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry saw an 11.1 percent rise, while the automotive manufacturing industry experienced a 7.8 percent increase.

Notably, Shanghai has made significant strides in the development of new quality productive forces. In 2025 the manufacturing output value of the three leading industries in Shanghai, namely integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence (AI), recorded a 9.6 percent year-on-year increase. Among them, the integrated circuit and the AI manufacturing industries posted growth rates of 15.1 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively.

"The Shanghai economy is embarking on a new growth trajectory driven by functional enhancement and new quality productive forces as core engines," said Ma Haiqian, vice president of the Shanghai Academy of Development and Reform.

"Its three leading industries are gradually gaining momentum through focused planning and sustained cultivation, becoming a crucial pillar of stable growth. This represents a concentrated manifestation of breakthroughs in new quality productive forces, innovation across the entire chain and the release of cluster effects," Ma said.

In 2025, the total output value of Shanghai's strategic emerging industries increased 6.5 percent year on year, accounting for 45 percent of the total output value of major industries.

Shen Kaiyan, director of the Institute of Economics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, noted that new quality productive forces are not only a new economic growth driver for Shanghai, but also serve as the core engine driving industrial transformation breakthroughs for the megacity and the entire Yangtze River Delta region, thereby enhancing the global competitiveness of the region's industrial clusters.

Despite the backdrop of international trade friction, Shanghai's foreign trade reached an all-time high, with total imports and exports hitting 4.51 trillion yuan, representing a 5.6 percent year-on-year increase.

Exports of "new trio" products -- electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products -- stood out as a particularly bright spot, with the combined export value reaching 160 billion yuan, up 17.4 percent. The export value of electric vehicles, in particular, rose by 13.8 percent.

Shen said that these positive economic indicators demonstrate Shanghai's achievements in its resource allocation capabilities, hub functionality and institutional openness. "Shanghai is evolving into a world-leading city, a critical node in the global supply chain and a key strategic pivot for national development."

According to Ma, in its next phase, Shanghai will strive to achieve another leap forward in both proper quantitative growth and effective qualitative improvement.

Particularly in the realm of innovation-driven development, the city will plan systematically around new technologies, new production factors, new business models and new application scenarios, Ma revealed.

Shanghai's GDP first exceeded 5 trillion yuan in 2024, three years after it first surpassed 4 trillion yuan. In 2006, the city became the first Chinese mainland city to have a GDP of more than 1 trillion yuan. ■