Sina Corp, China's largest Internet portal, will start to experiment with monetization of its microblogging product Weibo in the second half of the year, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

The company has said Weibo will start generating revenue in the first half of 2011 via the sale of virtual items and advertising space.

But chief executive officer Charles Chao told reporters and analysts on a telephone conference that the priority will be on investing in infrastructure of the product rather than on its revenue. (Reporting by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

China