The Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone is also known as the China Speech Valley and Quantum Center. [Photo/xuexi.cn]

Hefei National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, also known as the Quantum Center, is becoming a front-runner in the development of the quantum information industry in the world, according to a report released on Dec 13.

The report analyzed the zone's quantum innovation index, which showed that the zone boasts an increasingly complete quantum industrial cluster and maintains a leading position in China in terms of quantum technology strength.

Statistics showed that the zone is now home to five quantum technology-focused companies and 20 quantum-related enterprises. There are around 600 scientific researchers engaged in the quantum field in the zone, publishing 151 papers in world-class journals in the past three years, which ranks first in the world.

In addition, Hefei's quantum information industry-related patents, which are mainly from the zone, accounted for 12.1 percent of the country's total, ranking second only to Beijing in China.