The new technological revolution has not only created the digital economy, but has also accelerated the digital transformation of global value chains (GVCs). Digital technologies have reshaped the specialization within global value chains by reducing costs, enabling industrial chains and increasing added value in exports. However, GVCs also face salient risks in the digital economy era, as reflected in their spatial layouts. The enabling effect of digital technologies has led to the shortening and reshoring of global value chains. In value chain governance, dominant countries have imposed technological embargoes on ascendant countries, depriving them of key technologies. In the distribution of value, the imbalances in the specialization within GVCs and digital divides have aggravated global economic inequities. Given the new characteristics and risks of GVCs in the era of the digital economy, as well as the “dual circulation” development paradigm, China’s industrial chains and firms moving up the GVCs need to regard data, the fifth type of production factor, as a key to the enabling effect of the digital economy on industries. These measures will advance the digital transformation of traditional industries and the development of the digital industry, as well as allow industrial chains and innovation chains to work in tandem to facilitate favorable domestic circulation. At the firm level, enterprises should further develop endogenous innovation capacity to become leaders in innovation and free themselves from dependence on foreign sources for key technologies.