The growth rate was 1.5 percentage points down on the 18.5 percent level for the first quarter, due to slowdowns in exports and in fixed-assets investment.

The sector's core business income amounted to 1.2 trillion yuan (157 billion US dollars) in the four-month period, the sources added.

Of the total, computer manufacturing accounted for 412 billion yuan (54 billion US dollars), or 35 percent, electronic components made up 215 billion yuan (28 billion US dollars), or 18 percent, and electronic components, 143 billion yuan (19 billion US dollars), or 12 percent.

The January-April period witnessed growth of more than 20 percent in the production of new-type consumer electronics.

The sector produced 185 million cell phones in the four months, up 36 percent, 39 million personal computers, up 27 percent, and 4.3 million LCD (liquid crystal display) TV sets, up 89 percent.

Of the personal computer output, laptops notched up 23 million units, up 23 percent.

In a related development, core income for the software sector reached 143.5 billion yuan (19 billion US dollars) in the first four months, up 28 percent. The growth rate was 1.1 percentage points higher than in the January-March period.