The first city in central China is now aiming to become a "first-tier city".

On February 3rd, Wuhan held a city-wide conference on building itself into a first-tier city in the digital and intelligent economy and released the "Action Plan for the Development of Wuhan's Digital and Intelligent Economy (2026 - 2028)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan").

The "Action Plan" mentioned that Wuhan will use three years to achieve an artificial intelligence industry scale of over 200 billion yuan, strive to put into production a total high-performance computing power of over 15,000P, reach a cumulative data circulation transaction volume of 3 billion yuan, cultivate 1,000 data enterprises above a designated size, have over 1,500 artificial intelligence-related enterprises in the city, and initially build an ultra-large-scale artificial intelligence city.

In the wave of AI, Chinese cities are undergoing a profound transformation from the "digital economy" to the "digital and intelligent economy."

What is the digital and intelligent economy?

Put simply, it is a new economic form born from the deep integration of artificial intelligence with various industries and fields, and it is also an advanced stage of the development of the digital economy.

Some experts vividly compare it: the digital economy is like extracting data "oil," while the digital and intelligent economy is like building "oil refineries" and "engines" to transform raw data into intelligent decision-making capabilities.

Looking across the country, the layout of the digital and intelligent economy has been fully launched.

At the national level, the "AI +" initiative has been elevated to a top-level strategy. The suggestions for the 15th Five-Year Plan have repeatedly emphasized "digital and intelligent transformation," highlighting its importance.

At the local level, cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are leading the way with their first-mover advantages, and the digital and intelligent economy has become a new yardstick for measuring regional competitiveness.

In this competition to seize the high ground of future industries, where does Wuhan's confidence in vying for the status of a "first-tier city" come from?

Data shows that in 2025, the core industrial scale of Wuhan's digital and intelligent economy reached 1.1 trillion yuan, with the combined proportion of the electronic information manufacturing industry and the software industry exceeding 80%. Artificial intelligence technology is deeply embedded in fields such as intelligent connected vehicles, intelligent equipment, and smart medicine, with a penetration rate of over 30%.

In addition, in terms of infrastructure, Wuhan has 40 5G base stations per 10,000 people, a high-performance computing power of over 5,000P, and nearly 3,900 kilometers of open test roads for intelligent connected vehicles, enjoying a leading advantage. In terms of scientific and educational resources, 33 out of more than 90 universities in Wuhan have established artificial intelligence colleges, and the number of high-output and highly cited AI scientists in Wuhan ranks sixth globally.

Previously, Wuhan successively introduced policies such as the "Several Policies and Measures to Promote the Development of Wuhan's Artificial Intelligence Industry" and the "Action Plan to Promote 'AI + Manufacturing'," making every effort to build a first-class artificial intelligence innovation cluster and industrial development highland in China. Recently, "Building a First-Tier City in the Digital and Intelligent Economy" was also included in the suggestions for Wuhan's 15th Five-Year Plan.

According to the latest "Action Plan," Wuhan will strengthen the three "root" industries of the digital and intelligent economy. In the field of electronic information manufacturing, it will focus on building three 100-billion-yuan industries in sensors, optical communication, and storage-computation integration; in the software field, it will build an industrial software ecosystem co-construction platform and four software super factories; in the field of intelligent agents, it will cultivate 200 application service providers, create 50 professional intelligent agents, and 15 excellent intelligent terminal products.

That is to say, Wuhan not only needs to build a lush "forest of applications" but also cultivate self-controllable "technology roots." Whether it can rise rapidly in the digital and intelligent economy track will, to a large extent, determine the "ceiling" of Wuhan's future urban development.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory," and is published by 36Kr with authorization.