(Yicai) July 31 -- China's cloud-computing market could nearly double in size to CNY2.5 trillion (USD370 billion) over the next three years, driven by digital-economy priorities in China's 15th Five-Year Plan, the rollout of a nationwide integrated computing network, and accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence technologies across sectors, according to a new report.

The Chinese market for cloud computing -- on-demand computing services provided over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis -- grew 29 percent to CNY1.07 trillion last year, according to the Cloud Computing Industry Development report published recently by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. It will likely reach CNY1.37 trillion this year and CNY1.72 trillion next year.

Public cloud, intelligent computing cloud, and cloud services for overseas expansion have emerged as the three core growth engines driving industrial upgrading and expanding development horizons in the era of the intelligent economy.

“China's cloud computing expansion abroad has formed a regional layout centered on the Asia-Pacific, with the Middle East serving as a new growth pole, complemented by coordinated deployments in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Latin America,” the report said.

Revenues from Chinese cloud computing services offered in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 33 percent last year, according to the report.

The 15th Five-Year Plan -- China’s blueprint for national socio-economic development, industrial goals, and strategic priorities for the period through 2030 -- aims to beef up key digital-economy industries, develop sectors such as next-generation communication technologies, cloud computing, and blockchain, upgrade capabilities in high-end chips, optoelectronic devices, and foundational and industrial software, as well as build globally competitive digital-industry clusters.

In a section on enhancing basic industrial capabilities and competitiveness, the plan calls for a focus on foundational software, including operating systems, databases, middleware, programming languages and compilers, development and testing tools, and cloud computing software, as well as industrial software for research and development design, production control, and business management to foster technological breakthroughs and their use throughout the entire industry chain.

The global market for cloud computing reached USD823 billion last year, the report also said. It is expected to exceed USD1 trillion next year and USD1.6 trillion by 2029.

Editor: Martin Kadiev