Premier Li Qiang has emphasized the need to strengthen, optimize and expand the digital economy, and urged efforts to build new momentum and forge fresh advantages for China's high-quality development while accelerating its digital transformation.

He made the remarks during a fact-finding trip to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from Saturday through Monday.

During the trip, Li visited Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co and inspected the company's development of internet of things, artificial intelligence and big data technology products.

Noting that the development of the digital economy enjoys broad prospects, he urged efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

At the comprehensive service center for enterprises in Qiantang district, the premier learned about the measures that Zhejiang has taken to reform governmental services.

He affirmed the province's practices in optimizing the business environment and promoting the development of the private economy, and emphasized the need to continuously optimize governmental services to meet the needs of enterprises.

During his visit to Semitronics Corp, a manufacturer of semiconductors in Hangzhou, Li was briefed about the development of Zhejiang's integrated circuit industry, and he learned about the company's research and development in technology.

He underscored the need to adhere to technological self-reliance, promote the development of the full industrial chain of integrated circuits, strengthen collaborative research and improve the level of technological independence.

Li inspected the Hangzhou Chengxi Sci-Tech Innovation Corridor, where he visited BrainCo, a company engaged in neuroscience and neuro-feedback research. He expressed the hope that the company will further strengthen product research, development and application, and better serve the people.

During his trip, the premier also chaired a symposium attended by local officials and company executives. He pointed out that the development of the digital economy is profoundly changing the way people live and work.

Li called for focusing on strategic frontiers, such as big data and computing industry as well as the new generation of artificial intelligence, and nurturing digital industrial clusters. He underlined the need to accelerate the construction of digital infrastructure and continuously enhance international competitiveness of the internet-based platform economy.

Efforts should be made to vigorously promote digital transformation to enable it to comprehensively empower economic and social development, particularly to advance digital transformation of the manufacturing sector and the innovation and application of artificial intelligence, he said.