The Rugao High-Tech Industrial Development Zone breaks ground on six projects on Feb 27. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The Rugao High-Tech Industrial Development Zone held a groundbreaking and signing ceremony for 22 major projects on Feb 27.

The six projects that commenced construction during the event have a total investment exceeding 3 billion yuan ($416.86 million), spanning across various sectors including intelligent equipment, new materials, and life sciences. Among them, the 1-billion-yuan Xinjuli intelligent equipment project is expected to produce 10,000 machine tools annually with estimated taxable sales of 1 billion yuan.

A signing ceremony for 16 major projects is held. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The 16 newly signed projects cover a wide range of industries, including laser equipment, semiconductors, automation equipment, automotive components, information technology industries such as data outsourcing and processing, as well as synthetic biology industries like synthetic cells and pharmaceutical new materials.

In January, Rugao approved eight domestically-funded projects, each with over 500 million yuan in investment, and one foreign-funded project worth more than $30 million. Wang Minghao, mayor of Rugao, stated that the city will continue to provide comprehensive services to create the best environment for project construction and enterprise development.