China continues to show how advanced 5G services, mobile innovation, AI and digital services can have real economic impact, GSMA said
In brief – why this matters
–Mobile technologies will contribute $2 trillion (8.3% of GDP) to China’s economy by 2030, driven largely by 5G, AI and digital transformation.
-The manufacturing sector will account for 40% of this impact, as operators develop AI-powered enterprise solutions using 5G SA and 5G-A networks.
–China already surpassed 1 billion 5G connections in 2024, with 5G adoption expected to hit 88% by 2030
Mobile technologies and digital transformation will contribute $2 trillion to China’s economy, or 8.3% of China’s GDP by 2030, according to a recent GSMA report.
The Mobile Economy China 2025 report forecast that 5G technology and its ecosystem will benefit all sectors of the Chinese economy, with the manufacturing sector expected to drive 40% of that $2 trillion economic impact by 2030.
In 2024, mobile technologies and services generated $1.2 trillion of economic value, around 6.2% of China’s GDP.
“China continues to show how advanced 5G services, mobile innovation, AI and digital services can have real economic impact. 5G already accounts for more than half of mobile connections in China and is the cornerstone for the mobile industry’s trillion-dollar contribution to China’s GDP today (…) And with AI integration, Chinese operators are putting AI at the heart of intelligent solutions across industries,” said Vivek Badrinath, director general of the GSMA.
Chinese operators are developing solutions for the enterprise segment by integrating AI and leveraging their 5G Standalone (SA) and 5G-Advanced (5G-A) network for tailored, intelligent solutions across industries, the GSMA said, adding that while mobile technologies will benefit all sectors of the Chinese economy, some industries will see this more than others, such as manufacturing, due to their ability to incorporate the latest wave of digital technologies including 5G, IoT and AI.
The GSMA report also highlighted that the number of mobile internet users in China is projected to grow from 1.17 billion last year to 1.22 billion by 2030, increasing penetration from 80% to 84%.
Meanwhile, mobile data traffic in China is expected to quadruple by the end of 2030, reaching almost 70GB per mobile connection per month. China surpassed 1 billion 5G connections in 2024, which marks the rapid adoption of the technology in the country since its launch five years ago. 5G adoption in China will reach 61% by the end of 2025, rising to 88% by the end of the decade, according to the GSMA report.
“With 5G services now firmly established, the focus of Chinese operators and vendors is shifting to 5G-Advanced. China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have all conducted early trials and deployments of the technology, focusing on unlocking new applications in areas such as autonomous vehicles, drones and extended reality (XR),” the report stated.
Nearly 4.2 million 5G base stations were operational across China as of January 2025, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). This number is set to rise considerably, with Chinese operators forecast to invest $219 billion in mobile capex between 2024 and 2030, according to the report.
“In the AI field, early deployments have focused on internal solutions to improve performance across the layers of the telecoms value chain, such as network fault detection and automating more of the functions used in customer-care centres. China Unicom and ZTE have launched an AI-driven anti-fraud system to enhance network defense,” the GSMA report said.
“However, there is a growing shift to developing solutions for the enterprise segment to generate new revenue opportunities from AI capabilities. Chinese operators are leading this trend, integrating AI into their offerings for enterprises and leveraging their 5G SA and 5G-Advanced networks to deliver tailored, intelligent solutions across industries,” it added.
