MIIT boosts homegrown IT software

Senior government officials are expressing support for local players and scarcely mention foreign companies, even in high-end markets in which domestic firms are not much of a factor.

"China is in desperate need of self-made software and services because the cybersecurity issue is fully capable of damaging the nation's economy," said Zhou Hongren, member of the Advisory Committee for State Informatization, a think tank that advises top political leaders.

The nation should focus on high-end software development and support acquisitions, according to Zhou.

"High-end software that we can trust is what China needs right now," he said.

Revenue in the software sector exceeded 3 trillion yuan ($480 billion) last year, a 23.4 percent surge compared with a year earlier, according to statistics released by MIIT.

The annual growth rate globally was around 7 percent.