On August 28, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce released the "2025 China Top 500 Private Enterprises" list and the "2025 China Top 500 Private Enterprises Research and Analysis Report." Guangdong had 51 companies make the list, ranking among the top provinces, with many new faces from emerging industries.

Looking at specific rankings, Huawei topped the R&D investment list, demonstrating strong technological innovation capabilities, while Tencent Holdings ranked first in total tax contributions, showcasing the company's significant contribution to society. These listed companies are not only "pioneers" of economic development but also venture into "uncharted territories" in technological innovation, support "a vast sky" in job stability, and serve as "main forces" in tax contributions, injecting strong private enterprise momentum into high-quality economic development.

**Billionaire Club Expands Again, New Energy Sector Produces "Dark Horses"**

Nationally, Zhejiang continues to lead with 107 listed companies; Jiangsu ranks second with 90; Guangdong and Shandong tie for third place, each with 51 companies.

In top-tier enterprise competition, Guangdong's performance is particularly outstanding. Among the top ten companies, Guangdong ties with Zhejiang for first place, each having 3 companies selected, while Jiangsu has 2, and Beijing and Shandong each have 1. Huawei, BYD, and Tencent Holdings rank 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively.

In terms of revenue, Guangdong's "billionaire club" has added new members. This year, 12 Guangdong companies achieved revenues exceeding 100 billion yuan, including Huawei, BYD, Tencent Holdings, Midea, SF Express, Gree Electric, TCL Technology, TCL Industries, Digital China, Guangdong Haid, Vipshop, and newcomer Wens Foodstuff.

In 2024, Wens demonstrated strong revenue performance with total annual operating income reaching 104.924 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 16.68%, breaking through the 100 billion yuan threshold for the first time and joining the ranks of "hundred-billion revenue enterprises."

It's worth noting that the list uses corporate self-reporting, and well-known companies like Luxshare Precision, Industrial Fulian, and DJI did not participate in the ranking.

Additionally, several new faces made their debut, including Guangdong Desay Group Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Diankin Precious Metals Co., Ltd., Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co., Ltd., Infore Group Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Maydos Investment Holding Co., Ltd., Dadao Industrial Technology (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., and Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group Co., Ltd., demonstrating the vigorous innovation vitality of the private economy.

The new energy industry chain continues to create wealth stories. On the list, Huawei, BYD, and Tencent Holdings rank 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively. In the previous year, BYD lagged behind Tencent Holdings, ranking 7th. XPeng Motors emerged as a "dark horse," jumping from 441st last year to 301st this year. Guangdong's battery "duo" EVE Energy and Sunwoda improved by 5 and 40 positions respectively.

Among newly listed companies, Guangdong Desay Group and Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology are deeply involved in battery and recycling sectors, highlighting Guangdong's substantial accumulation in the new energy track.

Guangdong has formed a nationally leading smart connected new energy vehicle industry chain, covering vehicle manufacturers, battery producers, autonomous driving tech companies, sensors and other key component suppliers, innovation platforms, connectivity service providers, and third-party industry organizations, with an increasingly complete industrial ecosystem.

Geographically, the 51 listed Guangdong companies are mainly concentrated in the Pearl River Delta region: Shenzhen (25), Guangzhou (8), Foshan (7), Huizhou (4), Dongguan and Zhuhai (2 each), and Jiangmen, Zhongshan, and Yunfu (1 each).

In terms of industry structure, manufacturing remains dominant, with 35 of the 51 companies belonging to manufacturing, accounting for 68.6%. This reflects the significant success of Guangdong's "manufacturing-first" strategy—not only having comprehensive and complete industrial categories but also cultivating large-scale, highly competitive leading enterprises in multiple fields, continuously enhancing overall manufacturing strength.

**R&D Investment and Tax Contributions: These Guangdong Companies Lead Nationally**

Enterprises are the main force of innovation, with private enterprises being particularly important. In 2024, private enterprises achieved double growth in both total R&D expenses and R&D intensity. Among the top 500 private enterprises, companies that actually reported had total R&D expenses of 1.13 trillion yuan, 1.1517 million R&D personnel, and an average R&D investment intensity of 2.77%.

By industry, the top 500 companies with R&D expenses exceeding 10 billion yuan are distributed across six industries: computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing; internet and related services; automotive manufacturing; electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing; chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing; and software and information technology services.

This means private enterprises are no longer just market followers but have become pioneers in frontier innovation and key technology breakthroughs.

In the R&D "first tier," Guangdong companies perform exceptionally well. According to the report, the top ten companies in R&D investment rankings are: Huawei, Tencent Holdings, Alibaba, BYD, Geely Holding, Xiaomi, Ant Technology, Baidu, Meituan, and CATL.

Huawei has invested a cumulative 1.249 trillion yuan in R&D over the past decade, with 2024 R&D expenses reaching 179.7 billion yuan, accounting for 20.8% of annual revenue, and has accumulated 150,000 valid authorized patents globally. "Technology marathons depend on long-term R&D investment endurance," said Yu Chengdong.

Tencent Holdings follows closely, with financial reports showing 2024 R&D investment of 70.69 billion yuan, with seven-year cumulative investment reaching 391.2 billion yuan. In the second quarter alone, Tencent Holdings' R&D investment reached 20.25 billion yuan, a 17% year-over-year increase.

Notably, amid the global AI wave, both Huawei and Tencent Holdings are doubling down on AI deployment. "Over the next 10 years, AI computing power demand will continue to rise, presenting enormous system-to-system opportunities," said Huawei Rotating Chairman Meng Wanzhou. She believes the next 1-2 years are critical for AI terminal ecosystem formation, with AI being both core terminal capability and core experience element. As model inference capabilities rapidly advance in technology and cost, AI terminal penetration will significantly increase in a short time.

"We believe these increased investments will bring sustained returns by improving advertising business efficiency and game lifecycles, creating longer-term value as personal AI applications accelerate adoption and more enterprises adopt our AI services," said Tencent Holdings Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng.

Another "R&D powerhouse" worth noting is BYD. In 2024, BYD's R&D expenses reached 53.195 billion yuan, a 34.42% year-over-year increase. With robust R&D innovation capabilities, BYD has achieved numerous breakthrough results in hybrid technology and battery, motor, and electronic control technologies—the core three-electric technologies of new energy vehicles.

In social contributions, private enterprises are equally "pillars." The report shows that in 2024, the top 500 private enterprises had total tax payments of 1.27 trillion yuan, with 24 companies paying over 10 billion yuan in taxes, accounting for 4.80% of the top 500. Only three private enterprises had total tax payments exceeding 50 billion yuan: Tencent Holdings, Rongsheng Holding, and BYD, with Guangdong companies occupying two seats.

Tencent Holdings leads with total tax payments of 59.187 billion yuan. According to the Federation of Industry and Commerce's top 500 private enterprises report and Tencent Holdings' annual reports, from 2020 to 2024, Tencent Holdings' cumulative total tax payments exceeded 210 billion yuan, with an average five-year growth rate of 20.1%, demonstrating the responsibility of leading enterprises.

In employment absorption, private enterprises are also "stabilizers." The report shows that the top 500 private enterprises absorbed a total of 11.0912 million jobs, averaging 22,200 per company, with 48 companies employing over 50,000 people.

The top five industries for employment absorption are automotive manufacturing; internet and related services; electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing; computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing; and ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing, with combined employment of 5.2361 million people, accounting for 47.21% of the top 500's total employment.

Guangdong companies are major "employers." Tencent Holdings alone employs over 55,000 people, with technology talent accounting for 73%, including nearly 27,000 R&D personnel, showing significant technology talent clustering effects.

From substantial R&D investments to continuously rising tax contributions; from stable job positions to constantly released industrial momentum—private enterprises are vividly interpreting new-era corporate responsibility with hardcore strength and long-termism, becoming a surging engine driving high-quality development.

海量资讯、精准解读，尽在新浪财经APP