The clash - and cash - of China's internet titans

Tencent Chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng attends 2017 China "Internet Plus" & Digital Economy Summit held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, April 20, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

The price of success

The aggregate value of China's digital economy rose to 22.6 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion) in 2016 from 18.6 trillion yuan the previous year. That's over 30 percent of GDP, according the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

This change to GDP structure exemplifies how far China's economy has come. Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the center of a new cosmos. It is easier than ever to set up a business, not just in terms of administrative procedures and government approval, but through a plethora of novel financing vehicles for start-ups.

Behind policy documents and bold statements lies a world-class information infrastructure. Since 2015, internet speeds have risen relentlessly and data charges have fallen in tandem. There are now 888 million 4G users in China.

In January, a 100 billion yuan fund was established to support the internet sector and it was announced that 1.2 trillion yuan would be spent by 2018 on information infrastructure.