Chengdu continues to bolster high-quality development

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, has witnessed rapid economic growth thanks to its burgeoning industrial development and cooperation at home and abroad.

Official statistics showed that by the end of November, Chengdu's economic growth rate was around 8 percent for 11 consecutive quarters despite the sluggish global economy.

The economic boom is the result of the city's constant efforts in developing its high-level industries, local officials said.

In recent years, Chengdu has seen flourishing progress in emerging industries such as electronic information, biomedicine and cultural creativity, which bolstered the city's high-quality development.

Idemitsu Electronic Materials (China), a subsidiary of Japan-headquartered Idemitsu Kosan, was established in the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in 2018.

The branch engages in the organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, material business and is implementing its electronic material production project in the zone. The project is expected to be put into production by March 2020, said Nakashima Mitsushige, general manager of the branch.

The subsidiary is the third production center established by Idemitsu Kosan after Japan and South Korea. It is also the first manufacturing base for producing OLED materials in China, according to the company.

"The zone is a crucial production base for the new display and medium-sized panel, which is convenient for us to supply materials and to offer technical support in time," Mitsushige said.

The zone has provided foreign-funded companies with great support and Idemitsu Kosan is looking forward to significant progress here, he added.

Another shining example, liquid crystal display panel manufacturer BOE has also expanded its footprints in the zone. Over the past years, BOE has arranged its industrial layout in Chengdu covering high-level projects including an automobile display module, a health industrial park and a collaborative innovation research institute.

In 2017, the company put its sixth-generation panel line, named Amoled, into production. That marked a milestone in smashing the monopoly of the flexible screen industry by foreign markets.

Earlier this year, BOE signed an agreement with Huawei to apply its Amoled flexible screen in cooperation with Huawei's intelligent terminal in Chengdu, to support Chengdu's construction of a global base for network communication and the merging display industry.

Focusing on 5G communication, information security, power semiconductor and intellectual property technologies, Chengdu has attracted electronic information conglomerates such as Intel, AMD, Texas Instruments, and Unisoc, forming a complete industrial chain from materials, integrated circuit designs and wafer manufacturing as well as integrated circuit packaging tests and product application.

Chengdu has set a goal to develop the electronic information into the first industry with the output value of 1,000 billion yuan($143 billion) in 2020, which will focus on six major sections of integrated circuits, new displays, intelligent terminals, high-end software, artificial intelligence and new-generation information network.

This move also helps to build an electronic information industry ecosystem with international competitiveness and regional driving force in Chengdu, local officials said.

In addition to the high-tech sector, the biomedicine industry has also played a part in enhancing Chengdu's international competitiveness and promoting its development of a modern industrial system.

This year, the CHIDZ has welcomed Fortune Global 500 pharmaceutical and healthcare companies such as Gilead Sciences and IQVIA to set up their operation centers in western China. Allergan will build its trade center in China and Boston Scientific will construct its second headquarters and innovation center in China.

In November, the zone signed a memorandum with international pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to set up the company's headquarters in Chengdu, which will become one of the four head offices in China.

The headquarters will manage the company's operation business in western China, including the implementation of its commercial innovation center and industrial incubators, according to the company.

Taking the advantages of Chengdu's geography, the Belt and Road Initiative and its resources from its global biomedical supply chain service center, AstraZeneca will give full play to the national pharmaceutical development base and its human resources to introduce more innovative products and to bring more superior medical resources to patients, a staff member of the company said.

Since the foundation in 2016, the Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-Town has housed 127 industrial projects, and the volume of investment surpassed 100 billion yuan. It has attracted five Nobel Prize teams, four academician teams and 51 high-caliber talent teams.

With such great potential in its industrial development, Chengdu has become a popular destination for global investors.

To date, Chengdu has attracted 301 Fortune Global 500 companies relying on its huge development potential and a good business environment, according to the Fortune 500 list in 2019.

liangkaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn