ALMOST half the world's mobile phones are now made in China, government officials revealed during an IT expo in Qingdao yesterday.
The country's electronic industry revenue grew 18 percent year-on-year during the first six months of the year, fueled by booming demand for handsets, computers and TVs.
In the first six months, China's electronic industry revenue was 2.1 trillion yuan (US$276 billion). Chinese-made mobile phones accounted for 47 percent of global production capacity in the period, according to Zhou Zixue, a senior official at the Ministry of Information Industry.
Computer production in China accounted for 40 percent of the world's output, and for TVs that figure was 48 percent, Zhou said at a forum of China International Consumer Electronic Show (SINOCES), which opened yesterday in Qingdao.
"The consumer electronic industry is growing rapidly, and products from China are becoming more attractive and more tailored to international markets," said Wei Jianguo, vice minister of the Information Industry.
Chinese firms have strengthened their research investment and developed products and technologies with the convergence of computers, communication and consumer electronics.
The technologies cover third-generation (3G) mobile phones, digital home devices, digital TV and IGRS (Intelligent Grouping and Resource Sharing) standards, according to Wei.
Haier displayed a digital home system at the expo, such as a Web-linked refrigerator and an air-conditioner which can be remotely controlled.
Rong Yonglin, Tongfang's chairman, said his company will expand the business scope from IT to consumer electronics through research into digital TV.
China's consumer electronics revenue is expected to grow 10.3 percent annually and it will contribute 8.5 percent of the global total of US$575.1 billion in 2007.
Meanwhile, the domestic revenue for consumer electronics with converged technologies will grow 20.1 percent, according to Jurgen Boyny, head of worldwide CE division of research firm GfK.
"The line between home appliances and IT is disappearing, and people want to access the Internet through every screen, on computer, handsets or even refrigerators," said Ian Yang, Intel China's general manager.