China's top 1,000 private enterprises in research and development (R&D) investment reported steady growth in innovation spending in 2024, according to a report released by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce on Friday.

The report, released at a conference on the private economy held in China's northwestern city of Xi'an, showed that the total R&D expenditure of these leading private firms reached 1.43 trillion yuan (about 201 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, up 2.78 percent year on year. The companies held a combined total of 1.4281 million valid domestic and international patents, a year-on-year increase of 27.58 percent, including 594,600 invention patents, up 15.55 percent.