China's online population -- the largest in the world -- has topped half a billion, the state Xinhua news agency reported Thursday, citing a senior official.

Wang Chen, chief of the information office of China's State Council, or cabinet, said more than 15 million people had gone online since the last official figures were released in July.

The growing strength and influence of the web population has fuelled concern in Beijing about the Internet's potential as a tool for generating social unrest, and authorities have stepped up surveillance in recent years.

The government blocks web content that it deems politically sensitive in a vast system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China".

But it has struggled to control the increasingly popular weibos, or microblogs -- sites similar to Twitter that provide a new avenue for mass expression in a tightly controlled information landscape.

Speaking at an industry roundtable, Wang said China now had more 300 million microbloggers, while the number of rural rural Internet users had reached 130 million.

Google to build Asia data centres as market surges
Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 28, 2011 - Google said Wednesday it will build three data centres in Asia at a cost of more than $200 million, as the number of Internet users in the region soars along with stiff competition from rivals.

Google plans to build the new centres in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong on a total of 22.6 hectares (56 acres) of land, the firm said. It currently owns and operates data centres in the US and Europe, but none in Asia.

The centres usually house computer and telecom systems with high security and backup power supplies and will improve the firm's service to customers in the region, it said.

"The number of users and the amount of Internet use in Asia is growing faster than anywhere else in the world," Taj Meadows, Google's Asia-Pacific policy communications manager, told AFP.

"A large number of users are coming online every day."

The search engine giant has faced stiff competition in Asia, particularly in the China market where domestic search services, including Baidu, are household names to a 485 million-strong internet population -- the world's largest.

A study released by the Economist Intelligence Unit on Tuesday said Asian economies are closing the gap on the West in terms of their IT competitiveness, as they strengthen copyright protection and implement regulatory reforms.

The study said the US retained its position as the world's most competitive IT industry, but seven Asian economies made it to the top 20, including Singapore, which ranked third overall, as well as Australia, Taiwan and Japan.