Software sector reports double-digit growth CHINA’S software and information technology sector sustained stable growth in the first four months of this year, with revenue from software-related business up 10.8% year on year, official data showed Monday. The sector’s revenue amounted to 2.77 trillion yuan (US$415 billion) during the four-month period, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Companies in the sector raked in 278.5 billion yuan in combined profits in the period, down 1.4% year on year, shrinking from the 3.9% decline registered in the first quarter. Public cloud service market to see rapid growth CHINA’S public cloud service market will register a compound growth rate of 30.9% in the next five years, according to a report published by International Data Corp. (IDC). IDC estimated that the market size will reach US$105.76 billion by 2026. The global share of China’s public cloud service market will rise to 9.9% from 6.7% in 2021, according to IDC. The accelerating trend of digital transformation of enterprises and the country’s policy incentives will bring new opportunities. Mobile phone shipments top 69.35 million CHINA’S mobile phone shipments dropped 29.2% year on year to about 69.35 million units in the first quarter of this year, according to a report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). Shipments of 5G mobile phones amounted to 53.88 million units during the period, a drop of 22.9%, said the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. 5G phones continued to dominate China’s smartphone market in the first three months, accounting for 77.7% of all phone shipments. Taxes to be cut on some passenger vehicles CHINA plans to cut taxes on some passenger vehicles in a bid to boost economic activity, according to Monday’s domestic media reports. Officials in a recent State Council meeting planned to cut purchase taxes on some passenger vehicles for a certain period of time, waiving a total of 60 billion yuan (US$9 billion) in taxes, the reports said. The cuts would apply to internal combustion engine vehicles. New-energy vehicles, which include electric cars and plug-in hybrids, in China aren’t currently subject to purchase taxes. | 