More efforts are needed to develop fundamental scientific research, which will build key competence and curb threats to China's digital economic growth, said the top leader of Chinese internet titan Tencent Holdings Ltd.

"The recent ban on US companies selling chips to Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp is a wake-up call, calling for more attention to fundamental scientific research," Pony Ma, Tencent's chairman and CEO, said on Monday during the ongoing China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018 in Guiyang, Guizhou province.

With a theme dubbed "Big Data Makes a Smarter World", the expo opened Saturday and runs until Tuesday, and is facilitating discussion on such issues as the digital economy and big data.

Buoyed by the nation's growing number of mobile netizens and the fast development of mobile telecom sectors, China is on the cutting edge in mobile technologies, such as mobile payment.

However, Ma noted China currently lags behind leading developed countries in the fields of fundamental scientific research, including chips, operating systems and quantum computation.

Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings Ltd, gives a speech at the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018 in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou province, May 28, 2018. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]