China’s Software Industry Surges: Revenue, Profit, and Regional Growth in Early 2021

ByteDance Cafeteria Bribery Conviction

Former ByteDance catering supervisor Gao Chuanfeng was sentenced to six years in prison for accepting a total of 10.247 million yuan in bribes from two catering suppliers over three years, according to the Beijing First Intermediate Court.

Microsoft’s Potential Discord Acquisition

Reports indicate Microsoft is in talks to acquire Discord, a gaming‑focused communication platform, for over $10 billion, a deal expected to close next month. Analysts note the purchase would complement Microsoft’s existing consumer services such as Xbox, Skype, and Teams.

Apple Issues Emergency Security Patch

Apple released an urgent security update (HT212258) for iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS, addressing a vulnerability discovered by Google’s thread‑safety team that could affect WebKit and potentially install malicious code.

Bilibili Mistakenly Lists Baidu

Bilibili submitted a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that incorrectly listed Baidu as a related company. The error was corrected within hours, prompting online discussion about the oversight.

China Software Industry Economic Overview (Jan‑Feb 2021)

In the first two months of 2021, China’s software and information technology services sector recorded a revenue of 10,063 billion yuan, a year‑over‑year increase of 21.3 %. Profit reached 1,260 billion yuan, up 23 % and marking the highest growth rate in recent years.

Software product revenue grew 20.4 % to 2,590 billion yuan, with industrial software contributing 277 billion yuan (up 18.4 %). Information technology services generated 6,242 billion yuan, driven by cloud services, big‑data services, e‑commerce platform technology, and integrated circuit design.

Information security products and services recorded 191 billion yuan in revenue, a 15.3 % increase. Export of software reached $6.97 billion, up 13.1 % and returning to 2019 levels.

Regional analysis shows the central region’s software revenue grew 30.4 % (354 billion yuan), outpacing the national average, while the western region’s growth accelerated to 21.5 %. The top five provinces—Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai—accounted for 68.9 % of national software revenue.