China's IT market is expected to reach 289.8 billion yuan (US$35 billion) in 2004, up 15 percent year-on-year, a leading IT consulting firm announced Wednesday.

The hardware market will reach 190.1 billion yuan (US$23 billion), indicating a yearly rise of 10 percent. The software and IT service market are expected to reach 53.9 billion yuan (US$6.52 billion) and 45.8 billion yuan (US$5.54 billion), up 25 percent and 27 percent year-on-year respectively.

According to a report on "China IT trends in 2004" issued by China Computer World (CCW) Research, governmental bodies and manu facturing and power industries may contribute greatly to the IT market growth this year.

Governmental bodies are expected to purchase 40 billion yuan (US$4.84 billion) worth of IT products this year, the manufacturing industry, 28.7 billion yuan (US$3.47 billion), and the power industry, 5.9 billion yuan (US$713.42 million).

The report says that China will experience a "golden age" in its IT market in the five years to come, with a yearly hefty growth rate of 18.5 percent.

In 2003, China's IT market reached 252 billion yuan (US$30.47 billion), an increase of 11 percent over the previous year.

CCW Research also predicts that China's online gaming market will likely reach 1.65 billion yuan (US$199.52 million) this year, representing a rise of 26.9 percent over 2003.

Statistics show that people on the Chinese mainland who play online games topped 15 million in 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2004)