China’s Q1 2026 Software Revenue Hits ¥34.9 trillion, Up 11.6% YoY

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Monitoring Coordination Bureau, China’s software and information technology services sector showed strong performance in the first quarter of 2026.

Overall performance

Software business revenue reached ¥34,920 billion, a year‑over‑year increase of 11.6%. Total profit amounted to ¥3,894 billion, up 1.0%. Export of software services grew to US$156.0 billion, a 12.7% rise.

Sector breakdown

Software product revenue grew 8.5% to ¥7,915 billion, representing 22.7% of total industry revenue. Within this, basic software products generated ¥453 billion (up 8.3%) and industrial software products ¥727 billion (up 6.8%).

Information technology services maintained double‑digit growth, reaching ¥23,431 billion, a 13.0% increase and accounting for 67.1% of total revenue. Cloud computing and big‑data services together contributed ¥4,073 billion (up 13.1%, 17.4% of IT services). Integrated‑circuit design revenue was ¥1,065 billion (+14.0%) and e‑commerce platform technology services ¥2,727 billion (+9.5%).

Information security products and services rose 7.5% to ¥660 billion, while embedded‑system software grew 10.7% to ¥2,914 billion.

Regional performance

Revenue growth by region was: East China +12.2%, Central China +11.3%, West China +8.1%, Northeast +6.1%. The eastern region contributed 84.4% of national software revenue. The Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei region grew 14.0% and the Yangtze River Delta 12.8%, together accounting for 28.0% and 28.1% of national revenue respectively. The top five provinces—Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai—recorded year‑over‑year increases of 14.4%, 11.0%, 12.1%, 8.0% and 15.0%.

Outlook

The data indicate that China’s software industry is becoming more innovation‑driven, service‑oriented, regionally concentrated, and open. Information technology services continue to lead, with rapid growth in cloud computing, integrated‑circuit design, and other emerging tracks. The eastern region and key city clusters maintain high growth, and export resilience remains strong.

Looking ahead, deeper integration of digital technologies with the real economy and accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence are expected to sustain steady growth, further supporting new‑type industrialization, the construction of a network‑strong nation, and the Digital China agenda.