Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone is a national high-tech zone that was launched through cooperation between the Ministry of Science and Technology, Guangdong provincial government and Zhongshan municipal government in 1990.

The zone lies to the east of the Pearl River estuary and faces Shenzhen and Hong Kong across the sea. In addition to the Pearl River Delta railway, the Beijing-Zhuhai, Jiangmen-Zhongshan and other coastal highways all run through the zone. The zone also owns Zhongshan Port, listed as having of the country's top 10 container handling capacities, which brings the zone into the Lingdingyang Bay economic circle.

Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone

Covering an area of 90 square kilometers, the zone has drawn famous companies from over 20 countries and regions to establish operations there. Zhongshan also has more than 1,000 industrial enterprises, including 500 companies above designated size and 20 Fortune Global 500 companies, with foreign exchange earning ranking among the top 10 in the country. Furthermore, the zone houses eight national bases, a number topping all other high-tech development zones in the country. The bases include a health technology park, a printing and packaging industrial park, an electronics base, a high-tech product export base, a technology industrialization base, an equipment manufacturing base under the National Torch Plan and a green food industrial base.

The zone's five themed industries of digital information, health and medicine, printing and packaging, chemicals, autos and components, as well as four emerging industries including energy conservation and new energy, micro-electronics and telecommunication, equipment manufacturing and bio-technology, have become a highlight of the Pearl River economic circle.

Now there are more than 100 national, provincial and municipal research institutes and centers in the zone, covering the fields of new energy storage materials, electronics, telecommunications, biology, chemicals and printing and packaging. Over the past three years, the zone has implemented over 140 National Torch Plan projects and now owns more than 3,000 patents.