Growing industrial sector helps drive China's economy

China's industrial sector maintained steady growth in the first quarter, with value-added industrial output of enterprises above designated size rising 6.1 percent year-on-year and all 31 provincial-level regions recording positive growth, latest data from China's top industry regulator showed.

The sector contributed nearly 40 percent of overall economic growth in the first quarter of this year, underscoring its role as a key driver of the country's economy, Zhang Yunming, vice-minister of industry and information technology (MIIT), told a news conference on Tuesday. 

The growth was supported in part by accelerated efforts to advance new-type information infrastructure. The total volume of telecommunications services increased 8.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, 0.6 percentage points faster than the same period last year. The number of 5G base stations nationwide had reached 4.96 million by the end of March, MIIT data showed.

In what was again the fastest growth rate among major industrial categories, the value-added output of the computer, telecommunications and electronic equipment manufacturing sector rose 13.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

In a bid to support the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies, China has been stepping up the construction of computing power infrastructure. By the end of March, its intelligent computing capacity had reached 1,882 EFLOPS, MIIT data showed.

lijiaying@chinadaily.com.cn