The ongoing digital transformation provides an infrastructural basis for multi-level networking. The United States and China as the leaders in designing long-term social and economic development strategies pay serious attention to technological sovereignty and sustainable interaction between the corporate and public sectors that are impossible without reliable digital infrastructure. Digital platforms have become its most important component, creating prerequisites for the formation and development of various network structures. The paper discusses the subordinate effects resulting from the development of digital platforms as part of digitalization. Today, global value chains are being transformed, changing the global reproduction system; the reproduction process is also influenced by digital transformation; technological development and innovations bring new opportunities and transform all aspects of socioeconomic interaction. The methodological basis of the study is constituted by the system approach, comparative analysis and statistical methods. The paper examines the prospects of digital platforms in the PRC both for the national economy and international cooperation and proposes guidelines on their strategic development. It describes the specific features of financing their formation and systematizes the characteristics of networking in the sphere of e-commerce, cloud services and investment cooperation. Addressing the social aspect of using digital platforms, the study emphasizes the importance of social monitoring and migration controls that give the country a competitive advantage in developing and testing the technologies involved. It also shows that platform employment and digital poverty create multidirectional trends affecting the country’s economic development.