The research and development (R&D) spending of China's Internet companies went up to 45 percent year-on-year despite its almost 1 trillion yuan earnings in 2017 proving that the Internet is the basis of China's new economy.
The 100 Chinese Internet companies had a revenue of 2.75 trillion yuan in 2018, 1 trillion yuan more than in 2017.
The list of China's Top 100 Internet Companies got based on corporate responsibility, innovation capability, profit, revenue, and social influence.
Alibaba is at the head of the list with social networking giant Tencent Holdings Ltd at second and Baidu Inc at third.
Increasing their reach as well, Xing Yue, vice-president of Alibaba said the company has intensified its push with e-commerce in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and aims to have 2 billion users around the world in 2036.
This March, Alibaba already has 654 million annual active customers.
Pang Songtao, vice-president of Inspur, the largest server maker in China, affirms that they "will step up" their R&D "to help traditional businesses accelerate digital transformation."
Zhang Feng, chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed the growth on the Internet and its research and development are continuous.
He specified the Internet is effectively enhancing efficiency, helping widen imports and exports, optimizing China's industry structure and supplying-side reforms.
In just the first half of 2019, China's Internet market grew by 17.9 percent year-on-year. This rate is faster than the global average.
China now has 830 million netizens.
The R&D spending of Chinese Internet companies will help them become first-tier international players which just right for the nation's new digital economy.
The sum total of the R&D spending of the 100 companies reached 153.87 billion yuan ($21.86 billion) in 2018, up 45 percent year-on-year according to a report of the Internet Society of China and Information Center.
On average, these 100 companies invested about 10 percent of their revenue into R&D in 2018, with four of them devoting 30 to 35 percent of their revenue to R&D.
These amounts "highlighted Chinese companies' efforts towards innovation and breakthroughs," Jiao Xulu, an official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.
Jiao affirmed that Chinese Internet companies are making steady R&D progress.
China had been coming up with internationally competitive players in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and other technologies.
Because digital technology is becoming intertwined with traditional sectors, new applications came up for 17 industries that include intellectual property, music and videos, online media, public services, social networking, and transportation.
