Chinese Internet User Count Hits 772 million, 90 Percent on Mobile

On January 31, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the 41st statistical report of China Internet network development in Beijing. As of December 2017, China’s Internet population reached 772 million, with a penetration rate of 55.8 percent. This exceeds the global average (51.7 percent) by 4.1 percent and the Asian average (46.7 percent) by 9.1 percent. The number of Internet users in China continues to grow steadily. The growth momentum is due to innovative Internet models, integration between online and offline services and online public services.

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Mobile Internet users account for 97.5 percent, and the mobile network promotes IoT devices.

As of December 2017, the number of mobile Internet users in China reached 753 million, and the proportion of mobile Internet users increased from 95.1 percent in 2016 to 97.5 percent. At the same time, the proportion of Internet users who use the Internet increased by 3.2 percentage points to 28.2 percent. The usage rate for desktop computers, laptops and tablets has all declined due to the popularization of mobile phones. Smart devices with mobile phones as their center are the core of IoT. Smart cars and smart home appliances promote life experience and build personalized and intelligent scenarios.

More than 100 Chinese Internet companies are listed, and their total market value reaches nearly 9 trillion yuan.

As of December 2017, the number of listed Internet enterprises in China and abroad reached 102, with an overall market value of 8.97 trillion yuan. The combined market capitalization of Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu accounted for 73.9 percent of the total market value. Online games, e-commerce, cultural media, online financial and software tools accounted for 28.4 percent, 14.7 percent, 10.8 percent, 9.8 percent and 5.9 percent respectively of the listed companies.

There are 77 Internet unicorns in China, and important progress has been made in the field of artificial intelligence.

As of December 2017, the total number of Internet unicorns in China was 77, 41.6 percent of which were located in Beijing and 23.4 percent in Shanghai. Others are located in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou. E-commerce and online financial enterprises accounted for 18.2 percent and 15.6 percent of the total number of unicorn enterprises, occupying the dominant position. Cultural entertainment, automobile transportation, intelligent hardware, online medical and artificial intelligence enterprises have developed rapidly. The Development Plan for AI in New Generation provides strategic basis for the development of artificial intelligence in China, and important progress in the field of artificial intelligence has been made. As of June 2017, China has 592 artificial intelligence enterprises, accounting for 23.3 percent of the global total. In 2016, there were 3,0115 patent applications for artificial intelligence in China.