Abstract: Following the calculation logic of “contribution degree-increment-total amount”, and based on the construction of a digital economy accounting framework, the digital economy scale of nine representative provinces in the four major urban agglomerations: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Chengdu-Chongqing, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, from 2003 to 2019 is calculated, and the differences of regional development in these urban agglomerations are analyzed. The findings are as follows: Digital technology drives the collaborative improvement of industrial digitization and digital industrialization through substitution effect and penetration effect, and promotes economic growth. There is a large digital divide within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration. The Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration plays a good regional synergistic effect and shows the transformation of the old and the new digital economy growth poles. Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration has obvious dual-core balanced development pattern of digital economy.  Digital industrialization is prominent in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but the proportion advantage of industrial digitalization is not significant due to the characteristics of industrial structure, and the penetration dividend of digital technology is gradually becoming saturated. On this basis, policy suggestions are put forward to promote the high-quality and balanced development of regional digital economy.

Key words: digital economy, measurement of added value, digital industrialization, industrial digitization, digital divide