Investment in Central and Western China Surges 42% in 2025: "Broadcasting Nets" in Hard Tech and "Heavy Bets" on New Energy

"Answer the question about China's VC industry in 2025:

Will the central and western regions form a unique investment appeal in 2025 by virtue of their advanced technology or energy and resource endowments?"

Driven by resource advantages, the investment activity in the primary market in the central and western regions increased significantly in 2025.

Data from IT Juzi shows that a total of 1,346 investment events took place in the central and western regions throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 42.3%;

The total investment amount reached 142.988 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.5%.

This growth rate far exceeds the national average, indicating that capital is flowing into the central and western regions at an accelerating pace.

Resource Endowments: The Underlying Logic of Industrial Layout

The explosion of the VC market in the central and western regions is not accidental. Behind it lies profound resource endowments. It is these unique geographical and intellectual resources that determine the distribution of industrial types in this region, which in turn attracts the precise inflow of capital, forming a pattern of "industries leading, capital following".

For the new energy/new materials industry, the central and western regions have unique advantages: the rare earths, nickel, and cobalt in Inner Mongolia, and the lithium ore resources in Sichuan and Qinghai provide solid upstream support for the battery and new materials industries; the vast land and abundant wind and solar resources provide an ideal location for new energy power generation projects.

For the advanced technology industry, relying on science and education hubs such as Xi'an, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Chongqing, the region has gathered a large number of top universities and research institutes, forming a powerful source of talent and technology. Combined with the local traditional industrial foundation in fields such as electronic information and aerospace, it provides fertile ground for advanced technology innovation.

Advanced Technology: Early-stage Ecosystem Cultivation under the "Broadcasting the Net" Strategy

In 2025, the number of investment events in the advanced technology field in the central and western regions jumped significantly from 152 in 2024 to 289, nearly doubling. The proportion increased from 16.07% to 21.47%.

This indicates that advanced technology has become one of the most active investment tracks in the central and western regions.

This strategy clearly reflects that capital is responding to and increasing investment in the advanced technology ecosystem built by local universities, research institutes, and industrial foundations in a "broadcasting the net" way, actively deploying early-stage projects instead of just chasing a few large late-stage deals.

This investment model helps to cultivate a broader innovation environment and lay the foundation for the long-term competitiveness of the central and western regions in the advanced technology field.

New Energy/New Materials: Capital Concentrating on Mature Projects

In sharp contrast to the "broadcasting the net" strategy in advanced technology, the new energy/new materials track shows the characteristic of capital "heavily betting" on mature projects due to its clear resource endowments.

From the data, the number of investment events in this track increased from 189 in 2024 to 238 in 2025, an increase of 25.9%; but the investment amount jumped significantly from 38.486 billion yuan to 63.849 billion yuan, an increase of up to 66.1%. This means that although the growth rate of the number of new projects is relatively moderate, the single investment amount has increased significantly.

What better illustrates the situation is the change in proportion.

The proportion of the number of projects in the new energy/new materials track decreased from 19.98% to 17.68%, while the proportion of the amount increased significantly from 38.3% to 44.65%, an increase of 6.35 percentage points. This indicates that capital is not evenly distributed among more projects but is concentrating on a few large-scale and more mature leading projects.

This "heavy betting" strategy is essentially a direct response of capital to the upstream resource advantages such as minerals and energy in the central and western regions.

As the industry enters the critical stage of large-scale and industrialization, larger amounts of funds are being directed to leading enterprises to support them in using local resource advantages to achieve capacity expansion and market breakthroughs.

Top 20 Financing Events: High Matching between Industry and Resources

Looking at the top 20 financing events in the central and western regions in 2025, there are obvious characteristics of "three concentrations", which clearly confirm the logic that "resource endowments determine industries, and industries attract capital".

Industry Concentration: New Energy/New Materials Takes Half of the Market

Among the 20 companies, 10 are in the new energy/new materials field, accounting for 50%. Among them, CGN Inner Mongolia received a strategic investment of 11.8 billion yuan, and Jinchuan Nickel and Cobalt received a strategic investment of 9.7 billion yuan, ranking the top two. All these leading projects are closely related to the local natural resource endowments.

Regional Concentration: Chongqing and Wuhan Become the Core for Attracting Capital

Geographically, 6 companies in Chongqing and 3 companies in Wuhan are on the list, accounting for nearly half in total. This shows that within the central and western regions, capital is concentrating on a few core cities. Chongqing and Wuhan, with their strong industrial foundation, science and education resources, and policy support, have become the twin stars of the VC industry in the central and western regions.

Round Concentration: Strategic Investment Dominates

In terms of financing rounds, there were as many as 13 strategic investments, accounting for 65%, which is the absolutely dominant financing type. This indicates that the large-scale financing in the central and western regions mainly comes from industrial capital and strategic investors with state-owned assets background. They value the synergy effect with local industrial resources more than simple financial returns.

Regional Rise Driven by Resource Endowments

The strong growth of the VC market in the central and western regions in 2025 is mainly driven by the region's unique resource endowments. This reveals a clear dual path: in the advanced technology field, capital responds to the local intellectual resources and adopts the "broadcasting the net" strategy to cultivate the innovation ecosystem; in the new energy/new materials field, capital follows the natural resource advantages and "heavily bets" on mature projects to promote industrial breakthroughs.

The rise of core cities such as Chongqing and Wuhan, combined with the in - depth participation of state - owned assets and industrial capital, is turning the central and western regions into an important growth pole in China's VC landscape.

This article is from the WeChat official account "IT Juzi" (ID: itjuzi521). Author: IT Juzi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.