China’s data industry more than doubled in less than four years, reaching 5.86 trillion yuan (US$821 billion) by the end of 2024, according to figures released by the National Data Administration. The total represents a 117 percent jump from 2020 and is supported by more than 400,000 data-related companies, deputy director Shen Zhulin told a State Council briefing in Beijing. Rapid expansion of digital infrastructure under the 14th Five-Year Plan has underpinned the sector’s growth. By end-June 2025, the country had installed 4.55 million 5G base stations—by far the world’s largest network—and signed up 226 million gigabit-speed broadband subscribers. The build-out has lifted national computing capacity to the world’s second-highest level and helped China secure roughly 60 percent of all artificial-intelligence patent filings, the agency said. Officials led by National Data Administration head Liu Liehong said the momentum positions the data economy as a core driver of productivity gains and industrial upgrading through 2025 and beyond. Beijing aims to keep scaling cloud services, AI applications and secure data-exchange platforms to reinforce economic resilience amid intensifying global competition in advanced technologies.