BEIJING — China's software and information technology sector sustained sound growth momentum in 2021, with revenue and profit maintaining steady expansion, official data showed.

There were more than 40,000 companies in the sector with an annual revenue of more than 5 million yuan (about $784,363) last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Those companies reported combined revenue of nearly 9.5 trillion yuan, up 17.7 percent year-on-year.

Specifically, information technology services registered rapid growth last year, with the revenue rising 20 percent year-on-year to more than 6 trillion yuan, 2.3 percentage points higher than the average level of the whole sector.

The software sector's combined profits rose 7.6 percent year-on-year to nearly 1.19 trillion yuan last year.

In 2021, China's software exports came in at $52.1 billion, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, MIIT data showed.