China has made significant progress in unlocking the value of data as a production factor, with the country's total volume of active data reaching 1.67 zettabytes in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 28.46 percent, according to the National Data Administration (NDA).
Luan Jie, deputy director of the department of policy and planning of the NDA, said at a press conference on June 11 that the country has surpassed its targets for promoting the innovative application of data resources across various sectors, two years after the introduction of a three-year action plan to boost the development and application of data as a production factor.
China formally designated data as a new type of production factor in 2020, placing it alongside traditional factors such as land, labor, capital and technology, underscoring its increasingly vital role in driving economic growth and digital transformation. The NDA, established in October 2023, was tasked with advancing the planning and development of a Digital China, the digital economy and a digital society, as well as building the basic systems for coordinating the integration, sharing, development and application of data resources.
Under the three-year action plan on data as a production factor, China has released 417 typical cases and identified 760 typical application scenarios involving data across 11 industries, far exceeding the original target of creating more than 300 scenarios ahead of schedule, Luan noted.
The economic impact of these efforts is already evident. The number of enterprise data products and services rose 29.29 percent from the previous year, while the transaction value of such products and services increased by 39.8 percent, signaling robust market demand and growing confidence in data-driven business models.
The NDA has focused on expanding the breadth and depth of data applications across key sectors, fostering new industries, business models and growth drivers, and unlocking the multiplier effect of data in supporting high-quality development. The administration is prioritizing the integration of data resources into traditional manufacturing, financial services, transportation, healthcare, agriculture and other critical industries.
Luan stated that the NDA will further improve data governance, deepen scenario-based applications and enhance value creation, transforming policy dividends into tangible development opportunities and accelerating the multiplier effect of data as a production factor.
The announcement reflects China's broader strategic push to build a digital economy and establish itself as a global leader in data governance and innovation. The rapid expansion of the data market is expected to contribute significantly to the country's long-term economic transformation, as policymakers continue to develop the regulatory and technological infrastructure needed to support the safe, efficient and innovative use of data resources across all sectors of the economy.
With the NDA's continued efforts to refine data policies and promote cross-sector collaboration, China's data-driven economic transformation is poised to accelerate, creating new opportunities for businesses and contributing to the nation's broader goals of high-quality development and technological self-reliance.
Sources: gov.cn/SCIO
