BEIJING, Feb. 6 -- China's software and IT services reported steady revenue and profit increases last year, official sources said.

The sector's total revenue amounted to 6.31 trillion yuan (about 940 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 14.2 percent from a year earlier, the same growth pace as 2017, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Its profitability also improved. Combined profits grew 9.7 percent year on year to reach 807.9 billion yuan.

"The sector maintained stable and sound development trend... and served as a major driver for the digital economy," the MIIT said, citing quicker industrial restructuring and emerging growth points.

In breakdown, information security and industrial software posted robust revenue growth of 14.8 percent and 14.2 percent respectively. The revenues of both cloud computing and e-commerce services registered over 20 percent increases.

South China's Guangdong Province saw the highest software revenue, followed by Jiangsu and Beijing.

China's software and IT service sector has witnessed rapid development during the past decade thanks to Internet-based innovations and upgrades in traditional sectors.