BEIJING, CHINA / RankWire.AI / – China’s digital industry posted 20.71 trillion yuan in revenue during the first half of 2026. Revenue rose 13.6% from the same period last year. Total profit climbed 19.3% to 1.79 trillion yuan. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported an industry profit margin of 8.6%. That was 0.7 percentage point higher than a year earlier. The figures cover major parts of China’s fast-growing digital economy.
China expanded 5G and computing capacity as digital industry revenue continued to grow. (AI-generated image)
China’s largest regional digital markets continued to dominate industry activity during the six-month period. The 10 leading provincial-level markets generated 17.21 trillion yuan in combined revenue. Their revenue increased 13.2% from a year earlier. Together, they represented 83.1% of national digital industry revenue. They also accounted for 87% of the sector’s overall revenue growth. Guangdong, Jiangsu, Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang remained among the country’s biggest digital industry centers.
Central China recorded faster growth than the national digital industry average. Revenue across the region reached 2.86 trillion yuan, up 28.3% from a year earlier. China also continued expanding communications and computing infrastructure during the first half. The country had 5.102 million 5G base stations by the end of June. It also had 32.86 million 10G PON ports supporting gigabit network services. The number of 5G RedCap base stations reached 2.247 million.
Computing capacity and 5G networks expand
China’s intelligent computing capacity reached 2,185 EFLOPS using FP16 measurement during the period. That marked a 177% increase from a year earlier. Overall utilization across computing facilities stood at 71.4%. China had also developed 52 intelligent computing facilities with deployments exceeding 10,000 accelerator cards. More than 80,000 private 5G industry networks were operating nationwide. Authorities counted over 26,000 active projects combining 5G with industrial internet technologies across the country.
Digital manufacturing also recorded strong gains in production, revenue and profit. Value-added output in the electronics industry rose 14.8% from a year earlier. Major electronic information manufacturers generated 12.15 trillion yuan in revenue, up 17.8%. Their combined profit increased 66% to 703.6 billion yuan. Integrated circuits, computer manufacturing and specialized electronic materials contributed to the reported earnings growth. Electronics output growth exceeded overall industrial growth by 9.4 percentage points during the period.
Software and internet services sustain expansion
China’s software and information technology services sector continued to grow alongside digital manufacturing. Sector revenue increased 9.5% during the first half of 2026. Software product revenue rose 6.9%, while information technology services revenue advanced 10.4%. Major internet companies reported a 10.1% increase in revenue. Their total profit grew 16.6% from the same period last year. Telecommunications business volume also increased 8.3% when measured at constant prices.
The digital sector expanded faster than China’s broader economy during the first six months of 2026. The National Bureau of Statistics reported national economic growth of 4.7% for the period. Information transmission, software and information technology services recorded 10.7% growth in value added. China’s digital industry includes electronic information manufacturing, telecommunications, software, information technology services and internet-related businesses. Together, those segments accounted for trillions of yuan in revenue across the country during the first half.