Shanxi province's Economy and Information Committee reports that, for the first three quarters of 2013, the province’s software services saw rapid growth, with sales from 132 of its software companies reaching 2.75 billion yuan ($451.82million), Shanxi news net reported, on Oct 24.

Provincial statistics show the software development bringing in 880 million yuan, for a year-on-year increase of 56.1 percent, while information systems integration services resulted in 460 million yuan, up 17.9 percent, and software of embedded systems topped 100 million yuan, a growth of 36 percent.

Committee members said that the software and information technology industries are a potential growth point for the province and that traditional industries can only be upgraded through informatization and the development of emerging industries.

Under the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-16), software and information technology services are expected to be worth 30 billion yuan, with an annual increase of 50 percent. The number of its software and information services companies is expected to reach 300, with 20 of them having annual incomes above 100 million yuan.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw