Which sectors drove Guangdong’s economic growth in the first half of 2026?

Guangdong’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached approximately 7.23 trillion yuan (US$1.07 trillion) in the first six months of 2026, up 4.5 percent year-on-year. 

According to government data cited by Nanfang Daily, this growth rate is the province’s strongest first-half growth in almost three years, representing a 0.3 percentage point rise in comparison to the same period in 2025, and a 0.6 percentage point jump against the whole of 2025. 

What were the key industries supporting Guangdong’s economic growth? 

Based on data from the Guangdong Provincial Tax Service, a number of key industries helped to sustain the region’s robust economic performance in the first half of 2026. They include the manufacturing sector, which logged a year-on-year surge of 9.3 percent in sales revenue. 

By sub-segments, high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing (including communications products) experienced a growth of 11.8 percent and 10.1 percent respectively. Other major areas that witnessed a sales increase were drone manufacturing (+48.9 percent) and integrated circuit manufacturing (+40.1 percent). 

Traditional manufacturing sectors performed strongly as well, with sales revenue from the textile, garment and apparel industry, as well as chemical fibre manufacturing, rising by 18.5 percent and 20.5 percent respectively. 

[See more: Guangdong’s retail sales up 1.3 percent in the first half of 2026]

Another major pillar of Guangdong’s economic surge was the high-tech service industry, which increased by 19.3 percent year-on-year. Much of this growth was made on the back of booming business in areas such as the digital transformation of the manufacturing sector, AI models, digital trade and the digitalisation of the service industry. 

Service sectors that saw noticeable growth in the first half of 2026 were transport, storage and postal services (+12.6 percent), scientific research and technical services (+17.4 percent), and information transmission, software and information technology services (+20.2 percent). 

What else bolstered the province in the first half of 2026? 

Guangdong’s economy also received a boost from cultural tourism spending driven by cultural and sports integration in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the ticket stub economy, which encourages spending through discounts offered via event tickets. Notably, the culture, sports and entertainment sectors grew by 11 percent year-on-year, with the entertainment and sports sub-segments surging by 59.9 percent and 27.7 percent respectively. 

Meanwhile, the accommodation and catering industries logged a rise of 9.1 percent, with the latter growing by 13.3 percent. 

Trade played a key role in facilitating Guangdong’s economic growth. In the first half of 2026, the entire province’s total export value rose by 15.3 percent year-on-year, according to customs export declaration-form data. 

Among the sectors that experienced significant export growth were information transmission, software and information technology services (+57.9 percent) and scientific research and technical services (+41.4 percent). 

Similarly, the export values of new energy vehicles, solar photovoltaic equipment and components, and lithium ion batteries rose by 60.3 percent, 40.3 percent and 6.9 percent respectively. 

Notable increases were also seen in the export of fiber optic cables for computing infrastructure (+33.9 percent) and integrated circuits (+49.2 percent).