The IT industry's added value is expected to hit $69.6 billion for the entire 2003, up 44.5 per cent, vice-director of the economic operations department under the ministry of the information industry, Chen Wei said at the 2004 annual economic conference of China's IT Industry over the weekend in Beijing.

IT exports from China is set to touch $180 billion, roughly 34 per cent of country's total exports, Chen was quoted as saying by China Daily. The Chinese software industry's sales revenue also increased by 32.5 per cent to reach $21.7 billion for the first three quarters.

Based on the solid foundation laid in previous years, China aims to become a big player in the IT industry with strong competitive strength, Chen said.

For the first three quarters in 2004, China's IT industry witnessed a 40.5 per cent rise in added value, which compares to 15.5 per cent for all the country's industries during the same period.

Chen noted that profit growth of the IT industry for the first time exceeded the industry's turnover growth speed. Production, sales and profits of the industry grew hand in hand.

According to statistics for the first three quarters of 2004, sales income of China's IT industry totalled $226.5 billion, up 40 per cent from the same period in 2003, and the industry's added value rose 40.5 per cent to $43.8 billion.

For the same period, China's IT product foreign trade volume jumped 49 per cent to hit $236.7 billion and exports were worth $144.6 billion. The consolidation of the country's top 100 IT companies helped optimise the industry's structure, Chen said.

The January-September revenue of the 100 companies increased 24 per cent, and revenues of Haier, TCL and Lenovo, China's top three IT companies, reached $9.5 billion, $3.8 billion and $3.4 billion respectively.