More places in China have become first-tier cities for digital economy as the country boosts its strength in cyberspace and digital development, according to an expo that will conclude on Friday in Shijiazhuang, capital city of North China's Hebei province.

More than a dozen cities including Chengdu in Sichuan province, Suzhou in Jiangsu province and Wuhan in Hubei province, have joined Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guangdong province and others that have maintained a status as first-tier cities in the digital economy, said a report released during the three-day expo.

The 2022 China International Digital Economy Expo, which opened on Wednesday in Zhengding county, Shijiazhuang, is the country's first national-level expo focused on digital economy.

During the expo, the 2022 China Digital Economy Development Research Report was released by the China Center for Information Industry Development, an institution under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The report said China's digital economy has been the second-largest in the world in terms of scale and ranks first in growth rate, while in digital infrastructure, China boasts the world's largest 5G network.

By the end of August, the country had over 2.1 million 5G base stations, accounting for 19.8 percent of its mobile base stations and up 5.5 percentage points from the end of last year, the ministry was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Themed "Integrating Innovation and Digital Empowerment", the expo has brought together 24 academicians and more than 300 guests from home and abroad to share their insights on the digital economy over video link.

"The expo will empower the transformation of traditional industries, thereby giving birth to new industries, new formats and new models," Ban Ki-moon, chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia and former UN secretary-general, said in a video address to the expo.

He added the event will also provide support for the construction of digital China and a strong boost for the development of the global digital economy.

China will move faster to boost its strength in cyberspace and digital development, according to the report delivered to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October.

"It has brought new strategic opportunities and broad prospects for the development of the digital economy," Ni Yuefeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said via a video address.

Wang Jiangping, vice-minister of industry and information technology, called for efforts to enhance research on core technologies and systematically improve the independent innovation ability of information technology.

Wang also made the remarks via video link. He underlined creating a good digital ecology and a world-class digital industrial cluster, strengthening international exchanges and cooperation, and promoting the construction of a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

The expo is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Government of Hebei province and will last through Friday.

Being held online, it features a series of events including 30 forums, four competitions, three industrial matchmaking activities and some releases of innovative achievements.