(Yicai Global) Aug. 24 -- The Yangtze River Delta, one of China's three metropolitan regions, is looking to turn its economy more digital and smart via new projects and investment, according to regional plans.

Different cities and provinces in the region that includes Shanghai and Zhejiang province have recently announced their intentions to support digitization.

The Yangtze River Delta is taking the lead nationwide to advance its digital economy, said Chen Jianjun, deputy director of Zhejiang University's research center that focuses on the region.

But the current challenge is the bottleneck, said Chen. China needs to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in order to construct industrial chains that are no longer limited by global conditions, the deputy director added.

Shanghai will become an important hub in the network of international digital economies by 2022 via fifth-generation wireless communication and data centers, according to the eastern city's recent guideline.

Zhejiang province is striving to house a digital economy worth more than CNY4 trillion (USD578 billion) by 2022, doubling that of 2017, based on its plans. To reach the goal, more than 100 related key research and development projects should be launched this year. Moreover, over 10,000 entrepreneurial talents and innovative teams should be cultivated over the year.

The eastern manufacturing hub of Jiangsu province is looking to develop advanced manufacturing clusters around the fields of industrial internet, integrated circuits, and high-end equipment.

Eastern Anhui province aims to invest about CNY1.3 trillion (USD188.7 billion) this year to have nearly 6,900 key projects, each worth more than CNY100 million (USD14.5 million), with the investment sum rising 13 percent from a year ago. Half of those are manufacturing projects, particularly involving strategic emerging industries and traditional industries' upgrading.

Shanghai's digital economy already accounts for more than half of its gross domestic product, according to a recent report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. That of Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces tally over 40 percent, while Anhui is rapidly rising in this regard, jumping to the 11th spot last year from No. 13 in an annual ranking of China's largest digital economies.

Editor: Zhang Yushuo, Emmi Laine