China's digital economy is flourishing and has become one of the new engines driving high-quality economic development. Recently, the 2024 Digital Economy Leaders Exchange Conference was held in Beijing. Experts and entrepreneurs at the conference believe that listed companies are accelerating their digital transformation and are leaders and beneficiaries in the wave of digital transformation. Further scientific planning and active embrace of change are needed to accelerate the pace of digital transformation and support high-quality economic development.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the scale of China's digital economy has grown from 11.2 trillion yuan in 2012 to 53.9 trillion yuan in 2023, expanding 3.8 times in 11 years. In 2023, the expansion of China's digital economy continued to advance steadily, increasing by 3.7 trillion yuan compared to the previous year, with the added value of the core industries of the digital economy exceeding 12 trillion yuan, accounting for 10% of GDP.

In 2023, the market value of some listed companies in the core fields of the digital economy in the A-share market achieved year-on-year growth, mainly concentrated in the fields of digital product manufacturing and digital technology application represented by electronics, semiconductors, and software. The capital market's attention to the core industries of the digital economy continues to increase, providing more financing opportunities and development space for related listed companies.

Advertisement

According to the "2024 Listed Companies Digital Transformation Development Report" released at the conference, China's digital transformation has achieved significant results. From the perspective of industry segmentation, the digital penetration rates in the entertainment, retail, and financial industries are relatively high. From the perspective of listed companies, the digital penetration rates of domestic listed companies with high market value rankings are also high. Listed companies have enabled their main businesses through digitalization, achieving cost reduction and efficiency enhancement in many aspects.

Technology-based listed companies actively provide technical support for digital transformation. "Today's digital transformation has an essential difference from the past, which is that it requires us to build the foundation of transformation with independent and innovative technologies, relying on a brand new, secure, and sustainable evolving technology system to take the initiative in digital transformation," said Guo Ting, General Manager of Huawei's Financial Cloud in China. "To better serve the digital transformation of financial customers, Huawei has summarized four key tasks. First, support financial institutions in building a solid digital infrastructure foundation; second, assist customers in creating more agile, efficient, and secure core application systems; third, help customers enhance the integration of data and AI capabilities, accelerating the release of data element value; and fourth, build a prosperous technology ecosystem for the financial industry."

Listed companies in the financial sector provide financing services for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Yang Pan, head of the Corporate Customer Department of CITIC Bank, introduced that by integrating a large amount of data such as tax, industry and commerce, and judiciary, CITIC Bank has provided more accurate financing services for SMEs, improving the accessibility of SMEs to bank financing. In addition, he emphasized that data security, compliance, and privacy will be important directions for the future development of financial digitalization.

Digital technology is also widely applied in the field of culture and art. Fei Ziming, Vice President of Digital Content Business at Tiandi Online, introduced the company's digital cultural tourism project "Mingjian Wanli: The Activation and Innovation of Chinese Traditional Culture." "Through digital means, precious cultural relics are presented to the public in a new form, making up for the regret that many people cannot see these national treasures. Through this project, Tiandi Online has conducted new explorations in three aspects: cultural relic activation, architectural restoration, and cultural experience," said Fei Ziming.

Listed companies in the field of network security are facing significant opportunities in the wave of digital economic development. Yuan Xiandeng, Vice President and Secretary of the Board of Shengbang Security, said that network security is a symbiotic industry, which can more sensitively capture industry demands and changes. In his view, emerging industries such as intelligent transportation, low-altitude economy, and commercial aerospace are bringing huge market space to the traditional security industry. At the same time, data elements constituting data assets will also become the market growth momentum for the network security industry.

In the context of developing new quality productive forces, data is deeply involved in the production process. "Data elements have the advantages of non-competitiveness, non-consumption, and almost zero marginal costs. They are also combining with traditional elements such as land, labor, and capital, showing a final result of a multiplier effect," said Huang Kai, Senior Manager and Computer Industry Analyst at Guolian Securities. From a development perspective, cutting-edge technologies represented by large models are still in the initial stage of actual application. In the future, with the development of new quality productive forces and the deepening of the digital economy, these cutting-edge technologies will have better application in scope and breadth.

At present, there are still many bottlenecks to be broken through in the process of digital transformation of listed companies in China. First, some companies lack a clear digital strategy when deploying information systems, resulting in digital investment that is difficult to effectively combine with business development. Second, digital capabilities need to be continuously strengthened. Some companies have outdated systems that are incompatible with new technologies, and lack of digital talent and transformation culture hinder the transformation process. Third, digital transformation involves systematic reform across the entire business and cross-functional areas of enterprises, requiring comprehensive planning. Experts say that listed companies cannot expect immediate results through short-term investment and should regard digital strategy as a long-term investment. Only by adhering to long-termism can they win the future in this transformation.