The added value of China's core digital economy industries is expected to have exceeded 12 trillion yuan.So,what are the highlights and trends in the construction of the digital economy?

Recently,the National Data Bureau released the "Digital China Development Report (2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report").The report shows that in 2023,the added value of the core industries of the digital economy accounted for about 10% of GDP,or more than 12 trillion yuan; a total of 62 "lighthouse factories" have been built,accounting for 40% of the global total; it has been the world's largest online retail market for 11 consecutive years,with online retail sales amounting to 15.42 trillion yuan in 2023.The role of the platform economy continues to strengthen,with the transaction volume of key platforms monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increasing by 30% throughout the year.

Expansion of Computing Infrastructure

The report indicates that,as of the end of 2023,the number of 5G base stations reached 3.377 million,a year-on-year increase of 46.1%; on average,there were 24 5G base stations per 10,000 people,an increase of 7.6 percentage points from the end of the previous year; the number of 5G mobile phone users reached 805 million,accounting for 46.6% of mobile phone users; the number of 5G virtual private networks exceeded 30,000.

In terms of computing infrastructure,as of the end of 2023,the national in-use data center standard racks exceeded 8.1 million,with a total computing power scale reaching 230EFLOPS,ranking second globally.The total computing power scale has seen an average annual growth rate of nearly 30% over the past five years,with a total storage capacity of approximately 1.2ZB.Eight national computing hubs have entered the application phase.The structure of computing power supply is gradually optimizing,including various types such as supercomputing centers,data centers,and intelligent computing centers.

As of the end of 2023,the scale of intelligent computing power reached 70EFLOPS,with a growth rate exceeding 70%.A total of 14 national-level supercomputing centers have been established nationwide,with 633 large and super-large data centers and 60 intelligent computing centers (with more than 500 AI cards) in use nationwide,with intelligent computing power accounting for more than 30%.

In terms of application infrastructure,5G industry applications have been integrated into 74 major national economic categories,with more than 94,000 application cases.The industrial internet network with low latency,high reliability,and wide coverage has been essentially established.As of the end of 2023,5G+industrial internet has covered 41 major national economic categories,with more than 8,000 demonstration application projects and 300 5G factories created nationwide.

In terms of key core technologies,high-performance computing has continued to be in the first tier globally.As of November 2023,China and the United States occupied most of the positions in the TOP500 supercomputers,with the United States having 161 supercomputers listed and China having 104.

High-tech industry investment continues to improve.In 2023,investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services increased by 9.9% and 11.4%,respectively.In high-tech manufacturing,investment in the manufacturing of computers,communication,and other electronic equipment grew by 9.3% year-on-year,which is 6.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of total fixed asset investment.In the A-share IPO market in 2023,the number of listed companies and the amount of funds raised in the manufacturing of computers,communication,and other electronic equipment ranked first.Investment and financing in the field of intelligent manufacturing are active.The proportion of investment and financing events in the field of intelligent manufacturing has been increasing year by year.Generative AI (AIGC) has become a new hot spot for investment.The three sub-areas of general large models,metaverse/digital humans,and AI chips are the most active in financing,with the financing amount of general large models growing rapidly.

Since 2011,China has been an important destination for global digital economy investment and is also the largest recipient of digital economy foreign direct investment inflow in the Asia-Pacific region.Data Element Markets Active Across Regions

The report indicates that in 2023,the total national data production volume reached 32.85 ZB,a year-on-year increase of 22.44%.By the end of 2023,the total national data storage volume was 1.73 ZB.

As the data element market evolves,various regions are actively exploring ways to implement institutional frameworks.

Shanghai,Guangdong,Guizhou,Fujian,and other places are actively exploring region-specific "Data Twenty Articles"; Beijing has initiated the operation of a pilot zone for foundational data systems; Zhejiang has released and implemented the "Data Asset Confirmation Work Guide".Anhui,Hainan,Chengdu,Qingdao,and 13 other provinces and cities have established special systems for the authorization and operation of public data.

According to the report,by the end of 2023,dozens of provinces and cities across the country had launched public data operation platforms,and more than 20 provinces and cities had established dedicated data trading institutions.Guangdong,Shandong,Jiangsu,and Zhejiang lead the nation in the number of data trading institutions; the Shanghai Data Exchange has launched a data product registration hall and initiated a trial operation for data product registration; the Fujian Big Data Exchange trading platform has preliminarily achieved interconnection with the provincial public data development service platform,synchronizing more than 400 public data catalogs,over 10,000 data items,and incubating more than 50 public data products.

On June 28,the Shanghai Data Exchange announced that it was the first in the nation to initiate a data asset trading market,further accelerating the innovative development and utilization of data elements.According to Tang Qifeng,General Manager of the Shanghai Data Exchange,the exchange will focus on building five core functions: registration,valuation,trading,disclosure,and disposal,and actively explore the construction of the data asset trading market."A preliminary data asset trading system has been formed,based on the DCB (Data Capital Bridge) framework,with 'Data Easy Loan' and 'Data Capital Pass' as the basic carriers,including one standard and five guidelines,supporting the efficient and standardized operation of the data asset trading market."

Du Ping,former Executive Deputy Director of the National Information Center and Chairman of the Greater Bay Area Big Data Research Institute,recently stated at the 2024 Data Asset Management Shanghai Summit that data,as a factor of production,needs to realize both use value and commodity value.China has done very well in terms of the use value of data,with data collection,acquisition,and storage becoming part of corporate production and management,greatly enhancing corporate efficiency and social competitiveness.However,the commodity value of data needs to be realized through circulation and transactions in a commodity society.This requires the establishment of corresponding trading platforms and centers,as well as an evaluation system for the assetization of data,to explore the higher-order value of data.

At the recently held 2024 Global Digital Economy Conference,Liu Liehong,Director of the National Data Bureau,mentioned that every explosive development of the world economy is closely related to new factors of production.From land and capital to technology,new factors of production gradually integrate into large-scale social production and ultimately become key factors in promoting industrial transformation and economic development.With the explosive emergence of a new round of information technology,data,as a new factor of production,is gradually becoming a source of value creation.Unleashing the value of data elements requires vitality and momentum from reform and innovation.

The National Data Bureau will introduce eight institutional documents this year,including data property rights,data circulation,revenue distribution,security governance,public data development and utilization,corporate data development and utilization,high-quality development of the digital economy,and guidance for data infrastructure construction.