According to local authorities, Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, has decided to raise its total software sales to 60 billion yuan (US$7.25 billion) by 2010.

The city is vowing to increase the number of software firms to more than 1,000 in a three-year period from now to 2007, with their combined output value topping 30 billion yuan (about US$3.62 billion), in order to reach the new target. The city also plans to use another three years to increase its software sales to the 60 billion yuan target by 2010 when more than 1,500 software enterprises are operational in the city.

By 2010, the city expects to have 80 firms each with an annual output value of 100 million yuan (US$12.09 million) and 40 software firms listed on the stock market. Nanjing's software sales are expected to top 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) this year, according to the city's leading group in charge of electronics information industry.

China's IT (information technology) manufacturing sector sold 1.88 trillion yuan (US$226.5 billion) last year, a year-on-year growth of 34%. Of the total sales income, software accounted for 8.5%, according to statistics announced by Wu Hequan, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at a recent international IT exposition.