Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone in East China's Anhui province aims to develop itself into a global hub for artificial intelligence development. [Photo/hefei.gov.cn]

Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone in East China's Anhui province will continue to follow its strategic development layout to improve its level of opening up, as well as to create an open and inclusive development environment in an effort to develop itself into a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) development.

The Hefei high-tech zone is one of the first national high-tech zones, which was promoted by the State Council in 1991. After 30 years, it has formed many leading industries and innovative enterprises, such as China's leading artificial intelligence and speech technology company iFlytek.

Founded in 1999 and settled in Hefei in 2001, iFlytek has grown into a leading AI enterprise in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as a heavyweight in the country's AI industry. As an innovative technological enterprise, the company has emphasized key and core technology innovation since its founding. It has achieved remarkable results in various fields at many international evaluations, such as in machine translation, image identification, as well as machine reasoning. It has also been awarded the State Science and Technology Advancement Award twice.

Led by iFlytek, Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone has built an AI industry cluster. The zone is now home to China Speech Valley, the first national-level AI industrial park, and is known as the Quantum Center for its pioneering quantum technology industry.

In recent years, with the support of the central and local governments, China Speech Valley has grown into a cluster of leading companies, including AI and speech technology company iFlytek, as well as AI chip company Cambricon Technologies. These enterprises have bolstered its efforts to promote innovation-driven development and have made breakthroughs in several core technologies, playing leading roles in promoting the high-quality development of strategic emerging industries in Hefei and Anhui. Statistics show that as of the end of 2020, 1,024 companies have settled in China Speech Valley, generating 106 billion yuan ($16.55 billion) in operation revenue.