Official: China to be world’s largest data producer

China will become the world’s largest data producer, accounting for about 20 percent of global data by 2020, as the nation ramps up resources to integrate cutting-edge information technologies into the real economy, a senior government official said Saturday.

Chen Zhaoxiong, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said more efforts will be made to further integrate big data, artificial intelligence and the internet with the real economy, which will inject new impetus into China's economic growth.

“China has already made significant progress in bolstering the big data industry, with a string of big data platforms established in sectors such as manufacturing, commerce, finance, transportation and medical care,” Chen said at the opening ceremony of the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018, which opened Saturday in Guiyang, Guizhou province.

According to him, China now accounts for about 40 percent of disclosed big data patents in the world. More importantly, the country’s digital economy hit 27.2 trillion yuan ($4.3 trillion), accounting for 32.9 percent of China’s GDP.