en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "Q1 2026 Software and Information Technology Service Industry Performance Report." Data shows that in the first quarter, China's software business revenue reached 3,492 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%, while software business exports totaled 15.60 billion US dollars, up 12.7% year-on-year, indicating a positive overall industry trend. Profit growth slowed significantly—total profits for the software industry amounted to 389.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of only 1.0%, marking a notable decline from the full-year profit growth rate in 2025.
Looking at specific sectors, revenue from software products maintained steady growth. In Q1, software product revenue reached 791.5 billion yuan, up 8.5% year-on-year, accounting for 22.7% of the total industry revenue. Among this, revenue from basic software products was 45.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%; revenue from industrial software products was 72.7 billion yuan, up 6.8% year-on-year, a growth rate below the industry average, suggesting significant room for improvement in product maturity and market promotion within the industrial software sector.
Revenue from information technology services remained the primary driver of industry growth. In Q1, information technology service revenue reached 2,343.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.0%, accounting for 67.1% of the total industry revenue, exceeding two-thirds. Within the information technology services segment, cloud computing and big data services generated a combined revenue of 407.3 billion yuan, up 13.1% year-on-year, representing 17.4% of information technology service revenue; integrated circuit design revenue was 106.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.0%, continuing the high-growth trend exceeding 14% seen since 2025; and e-commerce platform technical service revenue reached 272.7 billion yuan, up 9.5% year-on-year.
The regional distribution pattern shows a continued trend of concentration. In Q1, the year-on-year growth rates for software business revenue in the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions were 12.1%, 11.2%, 9.1%, and 6.5%, respectively, with the eastern region accounting for 85.5% of the national total. Software business revenue in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region grew by 14.0% year-on-year, and in the Yangtze River Delta region by 12.8%, with these two core regions accounting for 28.0% and 28.1% of the national total, respectively, together contributing 56.1% of the national software business revenue. Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Shanghai ranked as the top five regions nationally by software business revenue, with year-on-year growth rates of 14.4%, 11.0%, 12.1%, 8.0%, and 15.0%, respectively. Shanghai led the top provinces and cities with a growth rate of 15.0%.
The narrowing of profit growth to 1.0% is the most closely watched structural signal in this data release. Historically, profit growth in the software industry has generally outpaced revenue growth, but this time, profit growth is significantly lower than revenue growth, reflecting a deep-seated adjustment in the industry's profit model. Software and information service enterprises are continuously increasing R&D investment to seize the high ground in AI technology. Simultaneously, the scale expansion of infrastructure-related businesses like cloud computing and big data inherently involves long investment return cycles. The combination of these multiple factors has led to short-term pressure on profits.
The industry's macro fundamentals continue to show a sustained expansion trend. The "2025 China Software Industry Development Prospective Research Report" released by the China Software Industry Association in April shows that China's software business revenue has grown from 8.16 trillion yuan in 2020 to 15.48 trillion yuan in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 13.8% over the five years, ranking among the top sectors in the national economy. Entering 2026, although the Q1 growth rate of 11.6% has moderated compared to previous annual averages, the data for the first two months of 2026—software business revenue of 2,153.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.7%—is broadly consistent with the overall Q1 growth rate, indicating that the industry's growth rate has entered a relatively stable plateau phase.
Continued policy support provides clear growth expectations for the software industry. At a State Council policy briefing on April 28, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Ke Jixin clearly stated that the next steps involve launching an "Artificial Intelligence + Software" special initiative, accelerating the R&D and application of intelligent programming, orderly advancing computing power layout and edge computing construction, while further strengthening the construction of the open-source ecosystem and promoting the intelligent upgrade of basic software and industrial software. The 2026 Government Work Report also lists "accelerating the cultivation and strengthening of new growth drivers" as one of the core tasks, laying a policy foundation for the sustained growth of the software and information technology service industry.
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