A series of events for the 2026 APEC Digital Week is being held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, from July 16th to 29th. Building on this momentum, Chengdu is deepening its dialogue and cooperation with the global digital industry, forging a new engine for industrial upgrades through the integration of the digital and real economies.

Digital cultural creativity is a major pillar of Chengdu's digital economy. The recently released animated film "Eight Immortals!" has surpassed a box office of 1 billion yuan. From concept development and production to marketing and distribution, the entire chain of the film is rooted in Chengdu, making it another "Made in Chengdu" animated masterpiece following the "Nezha" series. Ying Xujun, President of Oriental DreamWorks and Chief Producer of the film, stated that the work's creation and growth are inseparable from Chengdu's industrial nourishment. The Tianfu Changdao Digital Cultural and Creative Park in the Chengdu High-tech Zone, home to the Southwest headquarters of Oriental DreamWorks, hosts over 70 leading cultural and creative enterprises, including Koko Animation and Tencent's New Cultural and Creative Headquarters. The collaboration across the industrial chain is described as being just "a cup of coffee apart," forming a mature and complete industrial ecosystem. In 2025, the total revenue of Chengdu's core digital cultural and creative industry reached 413.97 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%.

Artificial intelligence is gradually becoming a significant growth point for Chengdu's digital economy, creating a synergistic empowerment effect with the digital cultural and creative sector. In 2025, the scale of Chengdu's AI core industry surpassed 150 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 39%. There are over 1,200 related enterprises, including 5 national AI top-100 companies and 12 provincial-level "chain leader" enterprises, indicating continuous acceleration in industrial development. On July 10th, Tencent established its first nationwide WorkBuddy OPC Cooperation Community in Tianfu Changdao to empower the digital cultural and creative industry with AI agents. Tencent Vice President Cai Guangzhong said, "We hope to explore replicable and scalable experiences in Chengdu, allowing the 'Chengdu model' to spread across the country."

This year's Government Work Report proposed for the first time "creating a new form of intelligent economy," and Chengdu's industrial layout is precisely aligned with this national strategy. In recent years, Chengdu has successively issued a series of policies on the market-oriented allocation of data elements and the high-quality development of the digital economy, accelerating the cultivation of a data-driven digital economy. Currently, the added value of Chengdu's core digital economy industry accounts for over 15% of its GDP, with a target to raise this figure to 16.5% during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

The deep integration of digital technology with the manufacturing industry has provided robust support for the city's industrial upgrades. In 2025, Chengdu's industrial added value surpassed 500 billion yuan, and the revenue of industrial enterprises above a designated size reached 1.79 trillion yuan, with the highest growth rate in nearly four years. Industrial investment has ranked first among sub-provincial cities for two consecutive years. This year, Chengdu was selected as one of the first batch of national demonstration cities for building a new type of industrialized zone, endowed with the core functional positioning of a "national advanced manufacturing base."

Digital technology is continuously enhancing the competitiveness of "Made in Chengdu" products. In recent years, Chengdu has completed intelligent transformation and digital upgrading for over 4,000 enterprises above a designated size, achieving a transformation coverage rate exceeding 80% and being selected by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a typical city for manufacturing digital transformation. A relevant official from the Chengdu Municipal Economic and Information Technology Bureau and Municipal New Economic Committee stated that Chengdu will strive to achieve full coverage of intelligent transformation and digital upgrading for industrial enterprises above a designated size this year. In June, Chengdu further clarified its goal to basically become a national advanced manufacturing base by 2030, with the revenue of industrial enterprises above a designated size exceeding 2 trillion yuan. One of the core paths is to build an "AI + Manufacturing" system, strengthen AI empowerment, enhance green manufacturing levels, open innovative application scenarios, and cultivate new intelligent-native business forms and enterprises.

Promoting industrial globalization and deepening cross-border cooperation are essential paths for the development of the AI industry. Chengdu, with its strong digital economy foundation and commitment to becoming a new national AI industry hub, is leveraging the APEC Digital Week as an opportunity to identify its global positioning and promote high-quality development through high-level opening up. Not long ago, Chengdu Mingtu Technology launched an "International OPC Avatar Talent Sharing Center" in Hong Kong, exploring a cross-border content production ecosystem that integrates AIGC and cultural creativity. The AI creation platform SeaArt, owned by Chengdu Haiyi Interactive Entertainment Technology Co., Ltd., has over 90% of its users overseas, topping the global AI product overseas list. The hosting of APEC Digital Week has further focused global attention on Chengdu's AI industry, promoting local enterprises to deeply integrate into the global industrial chain, innovation chain, and value chain. "APEC Digital Week will drive all parties to focus on cutting-edge technologies and discuss the application of AI across various industries," said Eduardo Pedrosa, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.