Abstract: Purpose/Significance With the economic development entering digital trend, the digital economy, represented by big data, cloud computing and internet of things, is driving a profound change of economic society, and bringing new economic growth and changes of industrial development pattern. Design/Methodology Based on the theories of rent-seeking and information asymmetry, this paper studies the impact and mechanism of digital operation on the survival abilities of SMEs by using CMES database. Conclusions/Findings The results confirm that digital operation has a positive effect on the survival abilities of SMEs by measuring the survival abilities based on product competitiveness and inheritance willingness. Secondly, the analyses of intermediary effect show that digital operation significantly reduces the rent-seeking behavior of SMEs. Thirdly, the analyses about heterogeneity show that the positive impact of digital operation on the survival abilities of SMEs mainly occurs in areas with low transparency of government information, further verifying the effect of digital operation on reducing rent-seeking.