Xiamen Hi-tech Innovation Center is one part of Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries in a cross-island development layout. [Photo/China Daily]

After three decades of development, Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries has become a platform for Xiamen to foster high-tech industries, attract top talents and drive the city's high-level construction into a modern metropolis.

Founded in 1991, the zone acts as an engine to drive high-technology industry development in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province.

As a national innovation demonstration area, the zone has promoted measures to support innovation and entrepreneurship. It has built a sound ecosystem for fostering business development and has now formed a whole industrial chain integrating key industries. This is regarded as the most important platform for promoting an industrial cluster worth more than 100 billion yuan ($15.76 billion) in Xiamen.

Accelerator

As a national-level high-tech zone, it has developed industrial land that contributes to an industrial output value of 19.6 billion yuan. It is home to more than 1,000 national-level high-tech companies, accounting for nearly half of the total in Xiamen.

Currently, the zone has more than 14,000 companies. Of these, seven businesses each have an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan and more than 300 businesses each have an annual output value of 100 million yuan. Moreover, Fortune Global 500 companies have set up 31 projects there.

From January to November, the added value of industrial businesses that each topped 20 million yuan in annual revenue increased by 10.7 percent. The accumulated investment in fixed assets was 30.14 billion yuan, an increase of 20.4 percent year-on-year. The actual use of foreign capital reached 3.3 billion yuan, up 11.4 percent year-on-year. Over the period, the zone added 4,116 companies, with an increase of 54.2 percent compared with the same 11 months of 2020.

Over the past 30 years, the zone has become an ideal investment destination for a slew of high-tech businesses such as Tianma Microelectronics; touch solution provider TPK; technology and engineering company ABB; and computer hardware manufacturer Dell.

It also incubated and produced high-tech companies including power solution provider Kehua Data; Yealink, a global brand that specializes in videoconferencing, voice communications and collaboration solutions; information safety solution provider Meiya Pico; electronic technology company Honflex; and photovoltaic power station provider Clenergy.

Gathering place

To date, the zone has developed five major industries of panel displays; computer and communication equipment; electric appliances; semiconductors and integrated circuits; software and information services. It has formed a complete industrial chain and played a key role in Xiamen's industrial cluster valued at 100 billion yuan.

From January to November, 1,587 projects settled down in the zone, with an investment of 148.84 billion yuan. So far this year, the zone has attracted projects worth 1 billion yuan from ChinaPower, Kehua Data and Reconova, and an increased investment from industrial giants such as China Aviation Lithium Battery.

The zone said it is developing a layout that combines emerging industries including artificial intelligence; new materials and energy; the internet of things and industrial IoT; and pharmaceuticals and smart healthcare as part of the effort to gather more high-level manufacturing industries.

Big incubator

Focused on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, the zone has continued to improve its environment in an effort to promote industrial upgrading. The zone has built a business incubation system that integrates startups supporting platforms, incubators, accelerators and industrial parks.

At present, the zone is home to 21 maker spaces and four national-level incubators. It has an area for incubating businesses that covers more than 1 million square meters and has incubated more than 1,100 companies.

In September, the zone issued a guideline on producing small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in niche sectors, command a high market share and boast strong innovative capacity and core technologies.

The zone will increase its support for this type of SMEs in sectors including talent, development spaces and financing, according to the guideline.

As a destination for innovative talent, the zone's businesses have now hired about 300,000 employees and more than 140,000 professional and technical talents.

Guan Xuan, Liu Qing and Li Shun contributed to this story.