Research on the Firm Spatial Distribution and Influencing Factors of the Service-Oriented Digital Industry in Yangtze River Delta

Exploring the spatial distribution and influencing factors of firms’ location choices in the service-oriented digital industry is of great significance for achieving a new round of rapid development for the digital economy in the context of a post-epidemic situation. Based on the micro perspective of firms, this paper explores the spatial distribution and influencing factors of the location choice of the service-oriented digital industry in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The research shows that the number of the service-oriented digital industry firms varies greatly among cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, showing an obvious core–periphery structure. There are many firms in municipalities directly under the central government and provincial capitals, which are the core areas; the number of firms in non-provincial capital cities is small and they are marginal areas. The influencing factors include: per capita GDP, industrial structure upgrading, whether it is a municipality directly under the Central Government or a provincial capital city, whether it has opened high-speed rail, information transmission, number of employees in the computer service industry, number of patent applications, Internet infrastructure level, and scientific fiscal expenditure have a significant positive impact on its location choice, while the per capita total social consumer goods have a significant negative impact on its location choice.