Recently, at the 2024 China Top 500 Enterprises Summit, the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Enterprise Directors Association released the list of "China's Top 500 Enterprises" to the public for the 23rd consecutive year. The key characteristics displayed by these top 500 enterprises include:

Operating revenue is growing slowly. The revenue of 2024 China's top 500 enterprises reached a new milestone, surpassing RMB 110 trillion to total RMB 110.07 trillion, reflecting a 1.58% increase compared to the previous year. The entry threshold has risen for the 22nd consecutive year, now standing at RMB 47.381 billion, an increase of RMB 383 million. Their total assets amount to RMB 428.86 trillion, marking a 7.28% increase.

Economic benefits are experiencing a recovery. The total net profit attributable to the parent company owners of 2024 China's top 500 enterprises reached RMB 4.51 trillion, marking a 5.01% increase. The net profit margin was 4.10%, up by 0.14 percentage points. 39 enterprises experienced losses, which is 4 fewer than the previous year.

Innovation-driven development has become even more robust. Firstly, investment in research and development is rapidly increasing. These 2024 China's top 500 enterprises have invested a total of RMB 1.81 trillion in research and development, marking a 14.89% increase on a comparable basis. This brought R&D intensity to a new high of 1.90%. Secondly, the level of innovation output continues to rise. The 2024 China's top 500 enterprises hold a total of 2.0297 million valid patents, an increase of 144,400 from the previous year, representing a growth of 7.66%. These enterprises also hold a total of 889,600 invention patents, representing a 19.67% increase from the previous year. Invention patents account for 43.83% of all patents, an increase of 4.40 percentage points from the previous year, indicating an improvement in patent quality.

The industry's structure continues to improve. The number of enterprises in advanced manufacturing and modern services making the cut continues to grow. In the 2024 list of China's top 500 enterprises, 31 enterprises from sectors such as new energy equipment manufacturing, power and storage batteries, communication equipment and computer manufacturing, and semiconductor and panel manufacturing have made the cut. Over the past five years, 18 more enterprises have been added.

The coordination of development has improved. In our country, the manufacturing, service, and other industries are advancing in unison. In the 2024 ranking of China's top 500 enterprises, the contributions to total revenue growth from the manufacturing, service, and other industries were 52.19%, 46.14%, and 1.67% respectively, showcasing balanced development among different types of businesses.

The ownership structure is becoming increasingly stable. In the 2024 ranking of China's top 500 enterprises, there are 256 state-owned enterprises and 244 private enterprises, mirroring last year's figures. In recent years, the ownership structure of China's top 500 enterprises has shown less fluctuation and is becoming more stable.