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Global Digitalization
& Intelligence Index
(GDII) 2026

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GDII 2026 Key Insights
The world is at a critical juncture of technological and industrial transformation. AI is profoundly reshaping traditional economic paradigms and society at large.
An economic cycle defined by data and intelligence is emerging, with intelligent transformation being embedded into all stages of production, distribution, and circulation.
This is propelling the world into the era of the intelligent economy.
Key Insight 1
Key Insight 2
Key Insight 3
The Era of the Global Intelligent Economy
According to forecasts by the Institute of Economics at Tsinghua University, the global digital and intelligent infrastructure and AI industry will have experienced rapid growth by 2030: The annual global investment in digital and intelligent infrastructure is projected to exceed US$4 trillion, and the average annual growth rate will surpass 46% for intelligent economy-related industries. The cumulative global economic impact of AI will reach US$27 trillion over the next five years.
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Digital and Intelligent Infrastructure, High-Quality Data, and Talent Ecosystems: The Three Strategic Pillars Supporting the Development of the Intelligent Economy
Energy and capital are the bedrock of the intelligent economy, because they are prerequisites for the build-out, deployment, and ongoing operation of intelligent productivity tools. Digital and intelligent infrastructure, high-quality data, and talent ecosystems together determine how much value these productivity tools can create, and are thus positioned as the key factors of production in the intelligent economy.
Building Forward-Looking Digital and Intelligent Infrastructure
Investments in digital and intelligent infrastructure lead the way to realizing economic value.
The theory of General Purpose Technologies (GPTs) states that infrastructure needs to reach a certain scale and level of maturity before the true economic value of a technological innovation can be fully achieved through diffusion and adoption.
Digital and Intelligent Infrastructure Development Pathways
Based on GDII, 90 countries are scored on their digital and intelligent infrastructure synergies and categorized into three stages: Builder (28 countries), Adopter (52 countries), and Frontrunner (10 countries).
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Pathway 1
Pathway 1: Going from Builder to Adopter and prioritizing improving network infrastructure coverage
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Pathway 2
Going from Adopter to Frontrunner and achieving high-quality networking, compute, and storage development
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Pathway 3
Sustained leadership – Focusing on future-oriented technologies to embrace all intelligence
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Pathway 4
Collaborative construction of digital and intelligent network, compute, and storage infrastructure for leapfrog development

Measuring the Progress of Digital and Intelligent Transformation Across Economies

The GDII 2025 report covers 90 economies, which account for 94% of the global GDP and 83% of the world's population. The comprehensive measurement model created within the report includes a number of new and updated indicators such as data scale and application level, network connectivity breadth and quality, computing and storage capacity and efficacy, ICT skills, and innovation ecosystems. The goal of the report is to provide a quantitative reference for countries looking to develop their digital economy.
Click the dot to view the progress of your country.

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Insights into Industries
Based on analyst research and industry-organization data, GDII conducted an in-depth analysis of four industries in 25 different economies, aiming to quantify the progress of each in terms of digital and intelligent transformation.
Power Utility
Banking
Railway Transport
Logistics
The power utility industry invests at least 1% of its annual revenue in ICT fields such as communication networks, edge computing, data centers, and AI. In the GDII study, every 0.1% increase in digital investment improves customer satisfaction by 6.4 points.
The level of digital intelligence in the power utility industry varies across economies. 50% of the economies covered by the GDII study are in the traditional grid stage, 30% in the intelligent grid stage, and 20% in the Future Power Systems stage.
Economies in the Future Power Systems stage have an edge smart device coverage rate above 80%, 20 percentage points higher than the industry average. Distribution communication networks are becoming critical infrastructure for the global energy transition.
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According to the GDII study, economies with more than five copies of data backups have an AI application penetration rate of 21%, which is nearly ten percentage points higher than peer economies. Stronger ICT infrastructure resilience correlates with greater confidence in embracing AI.
Banking has emerged as a frontrunner in AI development. Banks spend on average 3.9% of their annual revenue on ICT, with AI spending growing at a CAGR of nearly 30%.
Banks are increasingly operating like technology companies, with advanced data capabilities and agile operations models. GDII research shows that business cloudification within the banking industry exceeds 70% on average across the 25 economies studied.
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Rail operators are investing at least 1% of their annual revenue in ICT systems (for communication bandwidth enhancement, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, etc.). Intelligent railways can optimize transportation assets, which can enhance national competitiveness.
Average LTE/5G coverage in rail transport exceeds 50% in the 25 economies benchmarked. The rail-5G dividend increases GDP by 0.5% annually—a significant impact on the economy.
When deterministic fiber backbone networks are combined with new rail developments, the likelihood of securing foreign direct investment (FDI) rises by 5‒10%, while project valuations can increase by 10–25% in just 3–5 years.
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Significant disparities in logistics costs across economies: Logistics costs account for 8%–9% of GDP in stage-1 economies, 10%–12% in stage-2 economies, and 14%–15% in stage-3 economies.
A 1% increase in the proportion of digital and intelligent investment in transportation infrastructure (e.g., IoT, cloud platforms, and AI) can lower overall logistics costs by up to 0.5%, making exports more competitive and domestic goods more affordable.
Substantial regional divides in the logistics system interconnectivity rate: The rate averages 48% in Southeast Asian economies and exceeds 70% in a number of European economies.
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