In this file photo dated Oct 21, 2019, people flock to the sixth Light of the Internet Expo in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, where more than 600 enterprises and institutions participated. (XU YU / XINHUA)

BEIJING – China's major internet companies reported double-digit growth in business revenues and profits in the first half of the year, official data shows.

The business revenues of major internet companies totaled 695.1 billion yuan (about US$107.56 billion) in the January-June period, up 25.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

During the period, the companies raked in 65.86 billion yuan in operating profits, climbing 27.4 percent from the same period a year earlier, MIIT data showed.

Spending on research and development in major internet companies maintained rapid growth during the period, up 13.9 percent year on year. The growth rate was 3.2 percentage points higher than the 2020 level.

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