(Yicai Global) Feb. 1 -- China's 102 listed tech firms had a combined market cap of almost CNY9 trillion (USD1.4 trillion) as of the end of last year, with the top three companies hogging the bulk of the figure.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., collectively known as BAT, made up almost 74 percent of the total value, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported, citing data from the China Internet Network Information Center.

Tencent became the first Chinese tech firm to be valued at over USD500 billion in November, joining an exclusive club that includes American tech leviathans such as Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Alibaba followed suit and cracked the milestone on Jan. 24.

China's new-generation development plan for artificial intelligence has granted the sector top-level strategic support. As of June, China had 592 AI firms, making up 23.3 percent of the world total, the report added. They applied for more than 30,000 patents in 2016.

Some 77 of the firms were 'unicorns,' meaning they are worth over USD1 billion. Beijing was the home of 41.6 percent of the companies and 23.4 percent resided in Shanghai. The remainder was based in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and other cities.

The more prominent sectors were gaming (28.4 percent), e-commerce (14.7 percent), cultural media (10.8 percent), online finance (9.8 percent) and software makers (5.9 percent).