The emerging industry has taken shape in Nansha. There are about 620 companies engaged in AI and biotechnologies.

CloudWalk Technology, based in Nansha, is one of the largest AI suppliers in the financial industry in China. It was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's sci-tech innovation board in May, the first in the AI category in China.

The aerospace industry is also seeing burgeoning development in Nansha. For example, CAS Space, a commercial aerospace company backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is committed to the development of a new generation of reusable liquid launch vehicles and suborbital space tourism vehicles. It is building a solid rocket production base integrating research, production, experiments, assembly and testing, which is to be capable of producing 30 rocket products per year.

More than 6,600 financial or finance-related companies have settled in Nansha, including the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, which went into operation in June 2021.

A staff member of self-driving technology company Pony.ai conducts a road test of a Lexus in Nansha. CHINA DAILY

Official statistics showed that about one-fifth of the nation's financial leasing companies are in Nansha, making the district a hub for the leasing of airplanes and ships in South China.

In addition, a batch of major projects, including a hypersonic wind tunnel and extreme marine scientific research facilities, are under construction in Nansha. Government figures indicated that 3.67 percent of local GDP has been used for R&D in Nansha.

Funds and talent

Nansha's modern industries are expecting a new takeoff. In mid-June, the State Council issued an overall plan for Nansha district to deepen comprehensive cooperation between Guangdong and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions. It aims to build Nansha into an important platform for Hong Kong and Macao to better integrate into national overall development.

According to the mid-June plan, construction of a scientific and technological innovation industry cooperation base and a youth entrepreneurship and employment cooperation platform between Nansha and Hong Kong and Macao will be accelerated.