Beijing: China's data industry scale reached 5.86 trillion yuan (about US$ 821.45 billion) by the end of 2024, up 117 percent from the end of 2020, Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said at a press conference Thursday in Beijing. Liu stated that the number of data-related enterprises in China had exceeded 400,000 by the end of 2024, and the sector is expected to maintain strong growth in the coming years.

According to Emirates News Agency, by 2024, the average research and development investment of listed data companies increased by 79% compared with the end of 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 15.7%. The Yangtze River Delta, one of China's most economically vibrant regions including cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing, gathered more than 100,000 data companies by the end of 2024.

The data industry scale in the Yangtze River Delta accounted for 22.6% of the national total by 2024. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou are playing leading roles in the data industrial development in the country with their advantages of rich resources, technological innovation, and diverse application scenarios, according to the National Data Administration.

"This year, we plan to deploy a new batch of pilot projects for the construction of data industry clusters. With these new projects, we will continuously optimize the industrial layout and accelerate the formation of industrial ecology and scale advantages," Liu said.