China's internet sector R&D spending logs robust growth in Jan.-Oct.

A staff member of China Electronic Technology Group Corporation (CETC) demonstrates a wearable exoskeleton robot during the Light of Internet Expo in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 8, 2022. 

Photo by Jiang Han, Xinhua

China's major internet enterprises saw their spending on research and development (R&D) resume a double-digit expansion in the first 10 months of 2022, official data showed.

During this period, R&D spending of these firms totaled 63.67 billion yuan (about 9.03 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.4 percent year on year, with a pace 1.6 percentage points faster than that recorded in the first three quarters, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The combined business revenue of major internet companies and related services companies edged down 0.8 percent year on year to 1.22 trillion yuan, but the decline narrowed 0.1 percentage points from the first three quarters, the data showed.

Specifically, business revenue of firms mainly providing online sales services soared 16.3 percent compared to one year earlier -- a pace 1 percentage point faster than the Jan.-Sept. period.

Major internet companies and related services companies are those with an annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan.