China’s policymakers want the digital economy to account for 12.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030, as Beijing accelerates its push to build a modern industrial system anchored in advanced manufacturing.
The goal represents a significant increase from the 10.5 per cent share achieved in 2025, which was announced on Thursday during the annual “two sessions” parliamentary meetings and exceeded the initial target.
A large part of China’s digital economy – activities facilitated by data, the internet and artificial intelligence – is expected to be fuelled by integration into the manufacturing sector.
An outline of the nation’s 15th five-year plan, unveiled on Thursday and covering the period to 2030, proposes 28 major projects focused on “strengthening industrial foundations and competitiveness, fostering emerging industries and new growth tracks, advancing frontier technologies and enhancing innovation capacity”.
Premier Li Qiang, speaking during the opening session of the National People’s Congress, said China “must build a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone”.
“We will pursue greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, strengthen original innovation and make breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, while advancing the development of a digital China,” Li said.
This year alone, the government plans to upgrade 5G networks and connect factory equipment to enable more automated, digitalised and intelligent production systems, while developing national advanced manufacturing clusters.
Better use will also be made of data resources, “improving the fundamental systems for data as a production factor, and constructing high-quality data sets”, Li said.
China’s digital economy has advanced faster than that of the United States in some areas, noted Qi Xiangdong, who participated in the two sessions as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Speaking on Wednesday, he pointed to China’s formation of the National Data Administration in 2023, noting that “we were the first to ... recognise data as a production factor”.
“The level of data concentration and collection volume in China leads the world,” said Qi, who is chairman of Qi An Xin Technology, a cybersecurity company. He added that AI development “fundamentally depends on a robust data industry”.
Furthermore, Qi said that “China’s manufacturing sector provides an excellent foundation for the future development of AI”, particularly as the tech sector rapidly expands into physical applications such as robotics.
By expanding its digital economy, China seeks to narrow the gap with the US, whose digital economy accounted for about 18 per cent of GDP, according to a 2025 report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an American advertising business organisation.
China’s digital economy has already surpassed that of Germany, the world’s third-largest economy. In 2024, Germany’s digital sectors comprised 5 per cent of GDP, based on data from both the German government and the US International Trade Administration. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
