China's research and development (R&D) expenditure took up a record 2.4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, preliminary data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Sunday.

The world's second largest economy spent 2442.6 billion yuan (about $377.7 billion) on R&D, up 10.3 percent from a year ago, the bureau said in a report.

During the 13th Five-year Plan period (2016-2020), China's spending on R&D has maintained a steady year-on-year growth above 10 percent, and exceeded 2000 billion yuan for the first time in 2019. 

Worldwide, China's R&D expenditure has been the second highest only after the U.S. since 2013, the NBS said.

Also since 2013, the country has invested more than 2 percent of its GDP to R&D.

China's increasing investment in R&D has contributed to its growing innovation power. In 2020, the country retained its 14th spot in the top-performing economies in the Global Innovation Index released by the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization.

Since last year, self-reliance in technology has been stressed over and again in the country, as the U.S. has been relentlessly cracking down on Chinese tech companies and sought to contain China's technological development.

China has pledged to step up efforts to make breakthroughs in a number of high-tech areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum information and semiconductor manufacturing.