BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The planned investment or intended investment in China's high-tech sectors saw strong growth in the first eight months of 2018, data showed.

From January to August, new intended investment in such sectors surged 69.6 percent from the year earlier, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a report, citing data from the online platform for approving and monitoring investment projects.

The electronic and information sector witnessed a surge of 133.9 percent in intended investment, followed by 89.9 percent for the new energy sector and 68 percent for the new materials sector.

The sectors of high-end equipment manufacturing, environmental protection and biotechnology saw intended investment rise 29.1 percent, 23.4 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, the report said.

Fast growth in high-tech sectors, among others, was "in line with China's direction of structural optimization, the transition of growth drivers and industrial upgrading," the report said.

Willingness to invest in the sci-tech sector has improved as the country encourages innovation-driven development, pushes for breakthroughs in core technology and supports corporate efforts of technological upgrading, the report added.

In the first eight months, the country's total new intended investment rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier, 1.4 percentage points faster than that for the first seven months.