A news conference held by the  State Council on Feb 25 highlights outstanding performances of China's national high-tech development zones. [Photo/scio.gov.cn]

Based on initial calculations, China's 169 national high-tech development zones registered annual revenue of 48 trillion yuan ($7.58 trillion) in 2021, a yearly increase of about 12 percent. Their gross profits reached 4.2 trillion yuan, up 17 percent year-on-year.

Data show that these high-tech development zones only take up 0.1 percent of China's land area but account for 13 percent of its GDP, according to an official from the Ministry of Science and Technology at a news conference held by the State Council on Feb 25.

Shao Xinyu highlighted the important role of development zones, which are home to around one-third of high-tech enterprises and a number of world-class industrial clusters.

Shao listed the successful operation of several brilliant high-tech development zones, including the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC), whose optoelectronics sector accounted for more than 50 percent of the country's total.

Another high-tech development zone mentioned was the Zhongguancun National Demonstration Zone, whose information technology sector accounts for 17 percent of China's total. The Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Lanzhou National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, and Xi'an High-tech Industries Development Zone were also highlighted for their strengths in IC, smart manufacturing, new energy and biomedicine.