Anhui was counted among China's top 10 manufacturing provinces for the first time in 2020, after racking up manufacturing added value of more than 1 trillion yuan ($156.2 billion).

The industrial added value of Anhui's enterprises of designated size－those with a main business income topping 20 million yuan each－jumped 8.8 percent in 2016, 9 percent in 2017, 9.3 percent in 2018, 7.3 percent in 2019 and 6 percent in 2020, said Cui Yiqun, chief of the planning division of the Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology.

Cui noted that Anhui's manufacturing high-quality development index ranks seventh in the country and first among central regions.

Anhui has established a working concept "to use industries to empower the province, entrepreneurship to enrich people's income, while seeking integrated development through reform and innovation, he said.

It is worth noting that the average annual growth rate of 8.1 percent in Anhui during the past five years coincided with only an average annual increase of 3.4 percent in energy consumption, he said.

The latest historical achievement for Anhui's manufacturing industry has provided a strong driving force for its future progress, Cui said.

The provincial capital of Hefei is gradually growing from being a small city situated between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers into a well-known "city of innovation "nationwide.

In 2004, the Ministry of Science and Technology approved Hefei to become the country's first "National Science and Technology Innovation Pilot City", while on Feb 27, 2017, the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center was officially unveiled as the country's second comprehensive national science center, following one in Shanghai.

It is also the first national innovation platform in the central and western regions of China.

Niu Nutao, director of the Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, revealed the province will invest further in technical upgrading this year.

For advanced manufacturing, Anhui is seeking major breakthroughs in areas including integrated circuits, new displays, intelligent voice, industrial robots, new energy vehicles and high-performance new materials.

The high-end equipment manufacturing industry is one of the 10 emerging industries in Anhui for key development.

The province's high-end equipment manufacturing industry is expected to exceed 550 billion yuan in operating income by 2025, accounting for 41 percent of its equipment manufacturing.

Also in Hefei, the listed company iFlytek has become a key software enterprise dedicated to intelligent speech and language technologies, software and chip product development, speech information services and the integration of e-government systems.

Established in 1999, the company has seen its core intelligent speech technology rank among the best in the world.