BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's economy showed steady improvement across multiple sectors in July, with offline consumption growing steadily, the investment structure improving, and innovation remaining robust, high-frequency data from the State Information Center (SIC) showed Saturday.

People visit the Digital Economy Industry Expo 2026 at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, July 2, 2026. (Photo: Xinhua)

Offline consumption payments rose 2.2 percent year on year in July, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous month. Payments for household appliances and audio-visual equipment rose 8.5 percent, with the growth rate up 10.9 percentage points from June.

"The most encouraging change in consumption in July was that the recovery became more broad-based," said Xing Yuguan, a researcher with the SIC. Xing said steady growth in offline consumption, a recovery in big-ticket spending and strong summer tourism activity had helped boost consumption at major shopping districts, street shops and neighborhood stores.

Investment in advanced manufacturing surged 73.1 percent year on year in July, up 42.5 percentage points from June. The value of contracts awarded for projects related to new infrastructure, including computing power, data and networks, rose 0.8 percent year on year.

Xing said the continued improvement in the investment structure and the active flow of market capital into sectors related to new quality productive forces reflected confidence in the prospects for industrial upgrading.

On the industrial front, an index tracking production activity in industrial parks rose 1.0 percent year on year in July, indicating broadly stable operations. Activity indexes for the semiconductor, new materials, and digital intelligence sectors rose 11.6 percent, 8.9 percent, and 4.8 percent, respectively.

Patent authorizations related to strategic emerging industries rose 10.7 percent year on year, with AI-related patent authorizations surging 60 percent. The growth rate was 21.7 percentage points higher than in June.

Xing said data on industrial activity showed that enterprises in semiconductors, new materials and digital intelligence remained highly dynamic, while AI-related innovations were emerging at a rapid pace, providing strong impetus for the shift from old to new growth drivers in the industrial sector.