The combined revenue of China's top 100 internet companies totaled 1.07 trillion yuan ($159 billion) in 2016, up nearly 47 percent year-on-year, a new report by the Internet Society of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed on Thursday. The latest information highlighted the strong growth momentum of the country's internet sector.

Tencent Holdings Ltd topped the top 100 list, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc respectively occupying second and third place, according to the report.

Zhang Feng, chief engineer of MIIT, called on the country's leading internet players to boost research and development efforts, as well as cultivate more talents and actively explore overseas markets.

Last year, the top 100 internet companies poured about 75 billion yuan into R&D, up nearly 30 percent from a year earlier. The number of R&D employees totaled 156,000, marking a year-on-year growth of nearly 18 percent.