China’s major Internet enterprises saw their research and development spending resume a double-digit expansion in the first 10 months of 2022, official data showed.

 

China’s research and development spending logs robust growth

China’s major Internet enterprises saw their research and development spending resume a double-digit expansion in the first 10 months of 2022, official data showed.

During this period, research and development spending of these firms totaled CNY63.67 billion (about USD9.03 billion), up 10.4 per cent year-on-year, with a pace 1.6 percentage points faster than that recorded in the first three quarters, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The combined business revenue of major Internet companies and related services companies edged down 0.8 per cent year-on-year to CNY1.22 trillion, but the decline narrowed 0.1 percentage points from the first three quarters, the data showed.

Specifically, business revenue of firms mainly providing online sales services soared 16.3 per cent compared to one year earlier – a pace one percentage point faster than the January-September period.

Major Internet companies and related services companies are those with an annual business revenue of at least CNY20 million.

According to reports earlier released, during the first three quarters of year 2022, China’s internet companies increased their spending on research and development, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that major internet companies spent 56.6 billion yuan (about 7.8 billion U.S. dollars) on R&D during the period, up 8.8 percent year-on-year.

From January to September, the business revenues of major internet companies and related services companies came in at 1.1 trillion yuan, down 0.9 percent year-on-year, the ministry said.

Their combined profits stood at 96.6 billion yuan in the same period, down by 8.3 percent year-on-year.

By December 2021, the number of internet users in China had reached 1.032 billion, up 42.96 million from December 2020, and the internet penetration rate reached 73.0 percent. Network infrastructure has been completed, and the industrial internet has also made positive progress, according to a new report.