BEIJING, CHINA / RankWire.AI / – During the first half of 2026, China’s digital sector achieved a revenue of 20.71 trillion yuan, marking a 13.6% rise compared to the previous year. Total profits increased by 19.3%, reaching 1.79 trillion yuan. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported that the sector’s revenue growth accelerated by 4.1 percentage points from the same period last year. The profit margin for the industry stood at 8.6%, up 0.7 percentage points.
The majority of the digital industry’s revenue came from China’s leading regional markets. The top 10 provincial-level regions generated a combined total of 17.21 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.2%. These regions contributed to 83.1% of the nation’s digital industry revenue and accounted for 87% of the overall revenue growth. Among the key markets were Guangdong, Jiangsu, Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang. Central China alone reported 2.86 trillion yuan in digital industry revenue, rising 28.3% from the previous year.
Digital infrastructure also saw expansion during this period. By the end of June, China had 5.102 million 5G base stations. The country also operated 32.86 million 10G PON ports capable of supporting gigabit network services. The number of 5G RedCap base stations reached 2.247 million. The total computing power increased to 2,185 EFLOPS using FP16 measurement, which is a 177% increase from the previous year. Overall utilization of computing facilities reached 71.4%.
Expansion of Digital Infrastructure Across China
China built 52 intelligent computing facilities with more than 10,000 accelerator cards deployed by the end of June. Over 80,000 private 5G industry networks were active nationwide. Applications leveraging 5G and gigabit optical networks covered 94 key sectors of the economy. The country also had more than 26,000 ongoing 5G and industrial internet projects. Authorities confirmed that 1,260 classified 5G factories had been established across the country.
During the first half, digital manufacturing experienced faster growth in both output and earnings. Electronics industry value-added output increased by 14.8% year-over-year. Revenue among leading electronic information manufacturers reached 12.15 trillion yuan, rising 17.8%. Their combined profit surged by 66% to 703.6 billion yuan. The profit increase was driven by sectors such as integrated circuits, computer manufacturing, and specialized electronic materials. Electronics output growth surpassed overall industrial growth by 9.4 percentage points.
Software and IT services sustain positive trends
China’s digital services sector continued to grow in the first half of 2026. Total telecommunications business volume increased by 8.3% at constant prices from the previous year. Revenue from software and information technology services grew by 9.5%. Software product revenue rose 6.9%, and IT services revenue increased 10.4%. Major internet firms reported a 10.1% rise in revenue and a 16.6% increase in total profit compared to the same period in 2025.
These industry figures reflect the ongoing strength of technology-related services, which outpaced broader economic growth. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s economy expanded by 4.7% in the first half of 2026. The value added from information transmission, software, and IT services grew by 10.7%. The country’s digital industry includes electronic information manufacturing, telecommunications, software and IT services, and internet-related sectors, forming a vital part of its larger digital economy.