BEIJING -- Investment continued to pour into China's electronics and information technology (IT) sector during the January-July period, despite slower growth, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Investment in the sector totaled more than 480.7 billion yuan ($75.2 billion) over the first seven months of this year, an upsurge of 67.2 percent year-on-year.

The sector's investment growth rate far exceeded the average growth of other industries by 40.8 percentage points, the MIIT said in a statement on its website.

Rising costs of materials and labor, however, weighed on the sector's business revenues and squeezed profit margins.

Business revenues for the entire sector rose only 21.6 percent year-on-year to 3.44 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, with profits adding only 11.3 percent to reach 132.1 billion yuan. Profit margins were dim at 3.8 percent.

The MIIT said the business outlook for the sector is still far from being satisfactory for the second half of the year due to rising costs.