China will ramp up the construction of digital infrastructure and bolster the digital transformation of its economy and society, officials have said
Vice-premier Ding Xuexiang told the 7th Digital China Summit in Fuzhou that the country should take advantage of its massive data scale and rich application scenarios to unleash the value of digital transformation, China Daily reports.
He stressed the need to improve innovation capacities in digital technologies and to make breakthroughs in key fields like AI.
There should also be a focus on the security of industrial and supply chains.
China will increase efforts to accelerate the development of core industries of the digital economy, build digital industry clusters and promote the digital transformation of manufacturing, Ding told the conference.
Building Digital China
China unveiled its Digital China plan last year, which aims to place the country at the forefront of digital development by 2035.
The National Data Administration (NDA) was launched in October 2023 to coordinate the planning and delivery of the plan. It also supports the construction of data infrastructure and the application of data resources on party and state institutions.
Liu Liehong, head of the NDA, called for faster construction of data infrastructure and digitalisation of public services.
Liu also underlined the importance of developing smart cities and digital transformation of urban areas.
China’s total data output reached 32.85 zettabytes in 2023, up 22.4% year-on-year.
Added value from core industries in the digital economy accounted for 10% of GDP, according to the NDA.
Push for AI, cloud and Big Data
Wang Jiangping, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said China will push the development of next generation technologies, including AI, cloud computing and Big Data.
There will also be further integration of digital technologies with the real economy.
China has already made significant progress in building digital infrastructure.
Government statistics show the country has built more than 3.65m 5G base stations. The number of 5G mobile phone users reached 874m by the end of March.
