"China's Services and Software Trade Surge in First Half of 2025, Fueled by Soaring Exports"

During the first half of 2025, China's economy experienced robust growth, driven primarily by the exceptional performance of its services trade and software and IT services sectors. Official data indicates this growth is a result of a significant increase in exports and improved performance in knowledge-intensive industries.

Boom in Services Trade

According to data from China’s Ministry of Commerce, the total import and export volume of the services trade reached 3.89 trillion yuan (approximately $544.9 billion), marking an annual increase of 8%. Services exports were the primary engine of this growth, jumping by 15% to 1.69 trillion yuan. Meanwhile, imports grew by 3.2% to 2.2 trillion yuan, which helped narrow the services trade deficit by about 152.2 billion yuan compared to the previous year.

Knowledge-intensive services, such as travel services, were the key drivers of this boom. Their total trade amounted to 1.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%. Travel services led the categories, registering 1.08 trillion yuan with a growth of 12.3%, reflecting a strong recovery in that sector.

Thriving Software and IT Sector

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that the software and IT services sector achieved a combined revenue of 7.059 trillion yuan (about $988.65 billion), an annual growth of 11.9%. The sector’s total profits also rose by 12% to 858.1 billion yuan.

The sector's exports continued their upward trend, reaching $28.3 billion in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%.

IT services contributed more than two-thirds of the industry's revenue, totaling 4.84 trillion yuan, which represents 68.5% of the sector's total revenue and grew by 12.9%. Additionally, combined revenues from cloud computing and big data services grew by 12.1%, while revenues from integrated circuit design saw a remarkable increase of 18.8%. These figures underscore the pivotal role of technology in driving China's economic growth.