Digital economy key to high-quality growth

China's sharpened focus on developing the digital economy and bolstering the application of fast-evolving artificial intelligence in various sectors will drive industrial transformation and upgrading, while injecting fresh impetus into the country's high-quality development, according to officials, experts and business leaders.

Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said China's digital economy has gained strong momentum, with the added value of the core digital industries accounting for about 10 percent of the country's GDP.

During Liu's remarks at a forum of the 8th Digital China Summit, which ended on Wednesday in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province, he said significant progress has been made in fields such as AI, integrated circuits, industrial software and basic software.

The number of China's "lighthouse factories", which represent the highest level of intelligent manufacturing, makes up more than 40 percent of the global total, demonstrating the deep integration of data elements with digital technologies, especially AI, he noted.

Liu said the administration will enhance the core competitiveness of the digital economy, develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, support technological innovations and industrial applications of AI, and nurture innovative enterprises in the digital economy domain.

More efforts will be made to promote the in-depth integration of the real economy and the digital economy and bolster the digital transformation of urban areas, while strengthening international cooperation in the digital economy and facilitating the development of cross-border e-commerce, he added.

China's digital transformation has made great strides in recent years, with the Digital China Development Index climbing to 150.51 in 2024, up 10.65 percent from the previous year, according to the NDA's national institute for data development.

The index is a benchmark for the assessment of China's digital progress. In 2024, indicators such as digital infrastructure and digital technology rose by 17.55 percent and 13.56 percent, respectively. Moreover, the nation's total data output reached 41.06 zettabytes in 2024, marking a robust 25 percent year-on-year increase.

Jiang Xiaojuan, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said digital technologies represented by the internet, big data and AI have significantly enhanced the capabilities of data generation, transmission and processing.

Emphasizing that China, as the world's largest data producer, has unique advantages in accelerating the development of its digital economy, Jiang said more efforts are needed to accelerate the sharing, development and use of public data and improve data governance systems to further unleash the immense value of data elements.

Industry experts also highlighted that AI, which has entered a stage of explosive growth, is spearheading the development of the digital economy, and seamlessly integrating into every facet of industrial development and people's lives.

Wu Hequan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, underscored the significance of advanced digital technologies in improving the production efficiency of enterprises and lowering operational costs, estimating that the revenue from AI software and services is projected to showcase an upward trajectory in the future and will serve as an important driving force for GDP growth.

"The revolutionary advancement of AI technology has become the key to promoting the sustainable development of human society," said Huo Jia, vice-president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, the cloud computing unit of Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group.

Huo said the company is ramping up efforts to build intelligent computing power platforms; expand the application of AI models in a broad range of sectors including finance, government affairs, energy and healthcare; and boost the digital transformation of industries.

Huo added that the company will continue to increase investment in AI technology research and development and infrastructure construction.

Noting that building responsible AI is one of Tencent's long-term strategic priorities in developing AI, Gu Wei, vice-president of Tencent Cloud, said the company will pour more capital into technological innovation, build a more open and inclusive digital ecosystem and contribute to the high-quality development of China's digital economy.