BEIJING, July 31 -- China's fixed-asset investment in the electronic information manufacturing sector grew 9.4 percent year on year during the first half of the year (H1), official data showed Monday.

The growth rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than the all-industry average, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Major firms in the sector saw revenues down 4.2 percent year on year. Profits plunged 25.2 percent from a year earlier to 241.8 billion yuan (about 33.91 billion U.S. dollars), compared with a 49.2-percent decrease in the January-May period.

China's major electronic information manufacturers are those with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan each.