The overall revenue of China’s internet sector has grown by 17.9% year-on-year in the first half of 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

“The internet has become the most active sector with the widest infiltration in China,” Zhang Feng, chief engineer of MIIT, said, adding that China’s top internet companies have great momentum in increasing both revenue and profit this year and are accelerating their deployment in frontier areas including artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

“The MIIT will push for the expansion of the internet industry from the consumer sector into the production sector,” Zhang said, vowing to promote the in-depth integration of emerging technologies with the real economy, especially the manufacturing industry.

Zhang also said the MIIT will help promote industrial internet innovations, 5G applications, and the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. It will also cultivate more innovative internet companies to create a more open ecosystem in the industry, he said.