IDC predicts 55% of China's economy to be digital by 2021

A robot displays at a news conference in Beijing, March 30, 2017. [Photo/IC]

Fifty percent of the global gross domestic product will derive from the digital economy, with the percentage in China to potentially hit 55 percent, predicted Wu Lianfeng, vice-president of the market research company IDC China in Beijing on Monday.

By 2019, global capital expenditures for digital transformation will reach $1.7 trillion, a 42 percent increase from 2017, and the figure will hit $310 billion in China, a 35 percent increase from 2017, he said on the company's annual Futurescape event, which focuses on digital transformation.

In addition to this prediction, he also shared other predictions for the information and communications technology market, including predictions on cloud computing, blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Wu said that by 2020, over 70 percent of China's top 1,000 enterprises will explore and implement cross-industry expansion and cooperation with the help of information technology platforms and technology enablers, driving toward their business transformation, innovation and growth. He cited Neusoft as an example as it started as a software company, but has tapped into the medical sector.

By 2021, global enterprises will spend over $530 billion in cloud services and cloud-enabling hardware, software and services, doubling the current spending. Chinese enterprises will spend over $30 billion in this area, and the cloud-computing environment will diversify and enter the 2.0 era, which will accelerate the commercialization of 5G, according to Wu.

He also said that a blockchain is never equivalent to a bitcoin because it is more than just finance and can be used in many industries such as the manufacturing and medical sectors.

He said by 2021, at least 25 percent of the world's top 2,000 enterprises will adopt blockchain services at scale as the foundation for digital trust, while in China, the adoption rate might be 20 percent. He added that by 2020, China will see 20 percent of its banks, 30 percent of its supply chains and 10 percent of its health care institutes fully embrace blockchain networks in their operations.

Wu said that by 2019, 40 percent of the world's digital transformation initiatives will employ AI and by 2021, more than 90 percent of consumers will interact with customer support robots.

He added that quantum computing will enter a commercialization phase as, by 2021, businesses will begin to enjoy the power of quantum computing through cloud services.