China's leading search engine Baidu will invest more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in cloud computing over the coming years, its chief financial officer said on Monday.

The investment will go toward building data centres and hiring staff for its online data-storage service, Baidu said in a statement, quoting Li Xinzhe, but without giving details.

Baidu also announced a new web browser for mobile phones, which this year became the most popular way people access the Internet in China.

The new browser will offer faster download times and tailor-made applications, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Baidu has about 80 percent of the market in China, having benefited from the fallout between Chinese authorities and US search engine Google over its refusal to censor its search results.