Digital economy development in a less-developed coastal city: a case study in Shanwei, Guangdong, China

Purpose This paper provides a detailed case analysis of Shanwei, a developing coastal city in Guangdong Province, to examine the growth of its digital economy. Design/methodology/approach It first introduces Shanwei’s factor endowments and summarizes its achievements within the digital sector. Second, it measures the extent of Shanwei’s digital industry’s advancement in three metrics: digital economy index, attention to the digital economy and innovation and entrepreneurship level in the digital sector and compares it with neighboring cities. Findings The results indicate that Shanwei has actively promoted the growth of its digital economy since 2022, achieving economic growth via project introduction, high-tech and industrial park construction and industrial digital transformation. In 2024, projects such as constructing an intelligent computing center and an underwater data center were initiated to deepen the market-oriented reform of data elements. However, Shanwei’s digital economy level is generally lower than that of neighboring cities, with a significant gap compared to Shenzhen. Its attention to the digital economy is rising but still lags behind neighboring cities. Shanwei’s digital industry innovation and entrepreneurship have developed rapidly, and it is next to Shenzhen, Huizhou and Shantou in 2020. Practical implications This paper proposes digital technology innovations, infrastructure construction, manufacturing digitalization and legislation to boost Shanwei’s digital economy. Originality/value This study addresses a research gap by showing how a resource-limited coastal city, Shanwei, develops its digital economy. It evaluates Shanwei’s digital process using three indicators and compares it with neighboring cities, which reveals each city’s strengths and weaknesses and enriches regional digitalization research. The findings also offer valuable insights for other less developed coastal cities.