BEIJING -- The total number of enterprises in the core industries of China's digital economy has topped 4.57 million as of the end of November, official data showed Monday.

The figure marked an increase of 17.99 percent from the end of 2023, according to data from the China Organization Data Service.

In breakdown, the number of enterprises in the digital technology application industry came in at 2.17 million, and that in the digital factor-driven industry logged 1.96 million, followed by 236,300 firms in the digital product service sector, and 208,200 in the digital product manufacturing sector.

The number of core industrial enterprises in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces ranked the top three in the country.

Core industries of the digital economy involve economic activities that provide digital technologies, products, services, infrastructure and solutions for the digital development of the industry, as well as those completely dependent on digital technologies and data elements.