China Software and IT Services Enterprise Competitiveness Index 2019 – Top 100 Companies and Industry Insights

The China Electronic Information Industry Federation issued a competitiveness index for software and information‑technology service enterprises, using ten years of industry data and multi‑dimensional indicators such as scale, efficiency, quality, technology, R&D and social responsibility. The index is benchmarked against an industry average of 100 points and divided into five grades: Strong (120+), Relatively Strong (105‑120), Medium (95‑105), Relatively Weak (80‑95) and Weak (below 80).

In 2019, 160 enterprises scored above 120 points and 120 scored above 130 points. The top‑100 ("Hundred‑Strong") companies together generated 1.782 trillion CNY in software revenue, a 17.5% year‑on‑year increase, and total profits of 495 billion CNY, a 13.5% rise, both outpacing the industry average.

1. Scale continues to grow. Among the top‑100, 21 firms have software revenue exceeding 10 billion CNY, 50 firms exceed 5 billion CNY, and all have at least 1.5 billion CNY.

2. Innovation results are significant. R&D spending reached 317.7 billion CNY, a 25% increase, with an average R&D intensity above 10%. In 2019 the firms filed more than 40 000 software copyrights and obtained over 160 000 patents, more than half of which are invention patents. The sector achieved breakthroughs in basic software, office software, industrial design, simulation, intelligent speech recognition, cloud computing and database technologies, and began to form global advantages in 5G‑related core software and key algorithms.

3. Open cooperation deepens. Leveraging platforms such as G20, APEC, Digital BRICS and the Belt‑and‑Road Initiative, the top‑100 expanded overseas markets, with software exports exceeding USD 40 billion (over 10% of revenue). More than 30 firms have established overseas subsidiaries, branches or R&D centers, and leading companies such as Huawei, Tencent and Alibaba rank among the world’s top‑ten in market value.

4. Supporting role strengthens. The leading firms drive the "software‑defined" transformation across manufacturing, finance, logistics, transportation, culture and tourism, fostering new business models such as sharing, platform and algorithm economies, and creating new growth engines for the digital economy.

Looking ahead to the 14th Five‑Year Plan, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) deputy minister Wang Zhijun emphasized four priority tasks: (1) cultivating new domestic demand, (2) strengthening the supply of key software, (3) continuously optimizing the industry environment, and (4) deepening open cooperation in emerging fields such as 5G, AI, big data and blockchain.

Below is the list of the 2020 top‑100 software and information‑technology service enterprises (rank, company name):

1

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

2

Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd.

3

Alibaba (China) Co., Ltd.

rows 4‑100 omitted for brevity