BEIJING, April 4 -- China's major internet companies reported accelerated profit growth in the first two months of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) shows.

The companies raked in 16.97 billion yuan (about 2.39 billion U.S. dollars) in profits during the period, up 6.5 percent year on year, with a growth rate 6 percentage points higher than the rate for the whole of 2023, the MIIT data shows.

The revenues of these companies increased 7.6 percent year on year to 246.3 billion yuan, according to the ministry.

The companies saw their spending on research and development rise 4.5 percent year on year to 13.71 billion yuan.

Major internet companies and related services companies are those that have an annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan.