A worker maintains equipments at a cloud computing base under construction in Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, May 31, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)

A report shows China's total spending increased 60.8 percent year on year to reach 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of this year, making it the world's second largest cloud business market.

BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- China is spending heavily on cloud infrastructure services in its digitalization drive, a report showed.

China's total spending in this field increased 60.8 percent year on year to reach 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of this year, making it the world's second largest cloud business market, according to report by global market research firm Canalys.

China-based cloud service providers continued to dominate the domestic market, taking five of the top six positions, the report showed.

"The demand for on-demand cloud infrastructure services in China continues to grow, as more private and public organizations embark on digital transformation projects and start building platforms and applications to develop new services," said Wong Yih Khai, senior analyst at Canalys.

The development of artificial intelligence capabilities is one of the key differentiators for cloud service providers, Wong said. ■