China on Tuesday unveiled a development plan for the big data industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

People visit a demonstration center of Guizhou big data pilot zone in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 25, 2017. (Photo: Xinhua)

The scale of the country's big data industry will likely exceed 3 trillion yuan (about 470 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of around 25 percent, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said.

A market-oriented pricing mechanism for data as a key factor of production will be established by then, the MIIT said, adding that it would raise the social awareness of big data and incentivize advanced big data-powered products and services.

China's big data sector saw rapid development during the past five years, with the scale exceeding 1 trillion yuan by 2020, showed MIIT data.