Digital industry plays a bigger role in economic growth

China's digital economy, which uses internet technologies to empower industries and reshape people's lives, accounted for a third of the nation's GDP in 2018, a report tracking the sector's development said.

The volume of the nation's digital economy expanded to 29.9 trillion yuan ($4.33 trillion) last year, up 12 percent from 2017 and faster than the country's GDP growth, a Digital China Index Report by the research arm of Tencent Holdings Ltd said.

"Such robust expansion is conducive to stabilizing growth, adjusting economic structure and enhancing quality at a time when the economy encountered external uncertainties," said the report published during the three-day Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Summit that runs through Thursday.