Shenzhen’s Nanshan district – an area that houses some of China’s top tech firms – reached a gross domestic product (GDP) of 1 trillion yuan (US$143.85 billion) in 2025, making it the only Chinese district outside of Beijing’s Haidian and Shanghai’s Pudong to achieve this milestone. Year-on-year, last year’s GDP represented a rise of 6.3 percent.
Nanshan also happens to be the first Chinese district not under the direct administration of the central government to break the 1 trillion yuan mark.
At a meeting reported by multiple media outlets last Tuesday, Nanshan district chief Li Xiaoning noted that the area’s 2025 GDP per capita and GDP per square kilometre had reached 545,000 yuan (US$78,397) and 5.4 billion yuan (US$776.78 million) respectively. These figures put Nanshan among the best in China and outperform the results of certain European nations.
According to Li, Nanshan recorded a GDP of 652.7 billion yuan (US$93.89 billion) in 2020, with the district reaching last year’s milestone thanks to a yearly growth rate of more than 5.8 percent.
Nanshan’s massive economic output – equivalent to over one-fourth of Shenzhen’s total – is all the more impressive when considering that the district accounts for less than a tenth of the city’s area.
Official data indicates that strategic emerging industries were the primary driver of Nansha’s GDP growth last year, accounting for around 60 percent of the district’s economic output.
[See more: Guangdong’s GDP grew 3.9 percent in 2025, topping China’s list for 37 straight years]
For example, the head of Nanshan’s Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Xiang Tianye, pointed out that there were over 20 firms in the district that were capable of manufacturing a complete robot. Similarly, the area housed more than 200 upstream and downstream businesses, in addition to over 1,000 AI enterprises above the designated size.
Economically, Nanshan has also benefited from its cluster of rapidly developing firms, which includes over 200 publicly listed ones – a figure on par with some Chinese provinces.
According to Yicai Global, the district’s R&D spending as a percentage of GDP reached 7.9 percent last year, a figure that was 2.9 greater than the average nationwide.
Some well-known firms headquartered in Nansha include tech giant and the owner of WeChat, Tencent; drone firm Dajiang (DJI), mobile manufacturer ZTE Corporation and logistics service provider SF Holding.
Overall, Shenzhen’s GDP in 2025 amounted to approximately 3.87 trillion yuan, up by 5.5 percent year-on-year.
