China's growth accelerates as AI boom helps boost exports — SkimNews
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- China's economy grew 4.5% in Q3, the bottom of Beijing's 4.5%–5% annual target, rebounding from a three-year low but trailing Q1's 5% expansion.
- AI-linked high-tech exports lifted goods sales 14.3% year-on-year, while battery and industrial robot production surged more than 29%, according to official figures.
- China's trade surplus is on track to overtake last year's record $1.2tn (£900bn), with export strength offsetting chronically weak domestic demand.
- Property investment fell more than 20% through the first nine months of the year versus the same period in 2024, deepening the long-running real estate slump.
- Beijing rolled out targeted support in September — lower interest rates for select businesses and subsidies for property buyers — though analysts say effects have yet to surface.
- The US and EU are pushing back on cheap Chinese goods, with manufacturers struggling to compete, adding trade-tension pressure to Beijing's export-led growth model.
- Moody's Analytics economist Dave Chia warned the economy leans on a "single external engine," as doubts grow over whether the billions being poured into AI infrastructure will deliver promised profits.
Why it matters: China's growth now runs on one engine — AI-linked hardware exports — with high-tech sales up 14.3% and trade surplus heading toward a record $1.2tn. Property investment has bled over 20% in nine months and households won't spend, leaving GDP exposed if AI capex cools or Western tariffs bite.
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