BEIJING, May 29 ( Xinhua) -- China's digital economy in 2017 increased more than 20 percent from the previous year, China Global Television Network reported on Tuesday, citing a fresh report released by China's Cyberspace Administration.
The report taking a look at China's booming Information Technology (IT) sectors shows that the area has expanded rapidly in past years.
The report shows China's digital economy had a total output of 27 trillion yuan (4.2 trillion US dollars) in 2017, making up almost one third of China's GDP. Analysts say the application of IT is an important driver in China's economic upgrading.
The development of digital economy was thanks to the hardware resources, the media said.
In 2017, China produced 97 million smart televisions, up about 4 percent from 2016. In addition, Chinese manufacturers assembled 130,000 industrial robots, up 81 percent from 2016. Also last year, China produced 2.9 million civilian drones, with a 67 percent increase.
As a result, China's ever pervasive mobile payment sector processed transactions exceeding 200 trillion yuan (31.2 trillion US dollars).
Big data is an emerging segment in the IT sector. And it's viewed by many industrial players as a strategic area and potential source of growth, the media reported, adding the total output of the sector amounted to 23 billion yuan (3.6 billion US dollars) last year. Although that is still a small number, the sector's growth has been fast. China Academy of Information and Communications Technology estimates that the sector's output will reach 33 billion yuan (5.2 billion US dollars) in 2018. (Contributed by Zhao Danliang, Danliang67@xinhua.org, edited by Zhang Aifang, zhangaf@xinhua.org)
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