BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's new growth drivers are gaining strength as traditional sectors move up the value chain and emerging industries expand, according to officials and economists assessing the country's latest economic data.

China's gross domestic product grew 4.6 percent year-on-year in January-September, with third-quarter growth rising to 4.5 percent from 4.3 percent in the second quarter, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

Wei Qijia, a researcher at the State Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said China's economy showed upward momentum, stronger new growth drivers and an improving structure in the first nine months of 2026.

He noted China achieved relatively fast growth among major economies, advances in emerging industries and improvements in energy structure and export mix.

The NBS estimated that new drivers, including high-end manufacturing, the digital and intelligent economy and modern services, contributed more than 40 percent to economic growth in the first nine months. A further NBS analysis released Tuesday showed that new industrial drivers generated over 60 percent of industrial growth in the third quarter.

High-tech manufacturing value added increased 14.3 percent in the first nine months, compared with 5.3 percent for major industrial enterprises overall. NBS deputy head Mao Shengyong said the growth "baton" was being passed further toward new drivers, while traditional industries were also upgrading through new technology.

Mao cited ceramics makers in Jingdezhen using 3D printing to modernize production, as well as a coal enterprise where intelligent monitoring had boosted production efficiency by 30 percent. The NBS said such changes were helping established industries move toward higher-value production.

Industrial robots had been applied in 71 major industry categories of the national economy, with applications extending from welding and materials handling to precision assembly and quality checks, NBS data showed in June.

Liu Zhibiao, an industrial economist at Nanjing University, said that industrial clusters and supporting supply chains built up over decades had enabled several manufacturing sectors to grow faster.

The shift toward more technology-intensive production is reflected in investment. Investment in intellectual property products rose 9.3 percent in the first nine months, despite a decline in overall fixed-asset investment.

"Investment is undergoing a profound shift in emphasis from traditional sectors to emerging ones, and from scale expansion to efficiency improvement," said Liu Yuanchun, president of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

China's policy agenda has increasingly focused on this transition between old and new industries. The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2025 called for stepping up efforts to cultivate new growth drivers. A meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in July this year called for accelerating the shift from old to new growth drivers.

The shift comes as competition in advanced technologies intensifies globally and China seeks to match stronger production capabilities with new demand at home. Guidelines issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council this month call for upgrading traditional industries while developing emerging and future sectors, following the approach of "establishing the new before abolishing the old."

The NDRC has said this means ensuring that new productive capacity is firmly in place before outdated capacity is phased out in an orderly manner, allowing industrial chains and employment to adjust smoothly.

Zhu Qigui, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said China's economic fundamentals remained solid in the first nine months despite pressures, while new quality productive forces, modern services and high-tech trade continued to provide fresh growth momentum.

He attributed this resilience and vitality to four foundations: a complete industrial system and vast market, accumulated knowledge and engineering talent, macroeconomic governance that safeguards stability and manages risks, and continuous reform and opening-up.

Zhu said this process reflected "shengsheng," an idea from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes that emphasizes continuous renewal. "An economy is not a static set of indicators, but a living system that constantly sheds the old and brings forth the new," he told Xinhua.

Foreign-invested enterprises are also tapping into China's industrial upgrading. Their exports of high-tech products rose 42.1 percent in the first nine months, customs data showed.

Wang Jun, deputy head of the General Administration of Customs, said foreign firms were seizing opportunities arising from China's industrial upgrading and the development of new quality productive forces, while deepening their integration into the country's industrial and innovation chains.

Attention is now turning to how the momentum can carry through into the final quarter. Wei called for closer coordination of existing and additional policies, more effective investment in major projects and infrastructure, and wider use of new technologies to improve people's livelihoods.

"Steady economic performance also depends on a smooth transition between old and new growth drivers," Wei said. "The process will create more sources of growth and help ensure this year's economic and social development goals are achieved."