China published the 2021 list of the top 500 Chinese enterprises on Saturday, which showed improved performance and more research and development (R&D) spending by the companies.

The new list, jointly issued by the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association for the 20th consecutive year, showed that the combined net profit of the firms rose 4.59 percent year on year to 4.07 trillion yuan ($629.6 billion).

The total revenue of the top 500 Chinese companies rose 4.43 percent year on year, while that of global Fortune 500 companies dropped 4.81 percent year on year.

State Grid Corporation of China topped the list, followed by China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petrochemical Corporation and China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

Among the top 500 Chinese companies in 2021, 222 companies registered a revenue of more than 100 billion yuan, increasing from the 217 companies in the previous year. 

Meanwhile, the industrial structure of the top 500 companies continued to be optimized, and the number of companies in strategic emerging industries and modern service industries continued to increase. Among the top 500 Chinese companies in 2021, 249 are in the manufacturing industry and 176 are in the service industry.

In addition, the combined R&D spending totaled 1.31 trillion yuan, increasing 21.5 percent year on year.

The list shows that the top 500 Chinese companies hold more than a quarter of the invention patents in the country. In 2021, these companies hold 1.45 million patents, an increase of 16.89 percent year on year.