Yinchuan in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region has been upgrading the structure of its new materials industry, particularly enterprises that produce photovoltaic silicon, industrial sapphire, and third-generation semiconductors, to promote high-quality development and build clusters worth hundreds of billions of yuan.
In 2021, Yinchuan's 25 new materials enterprises above designated size had a total output value of 25.9 billion yuan (about $4.1 billion), with year-on-year growth of 92 percent.
During the same period, 21 new materials projects were implemented with a combined investment of 4.25 billion yuan by well-known new materials enterprises in Yinchuan.
Ningxia has multiple advantages in the foundation of its technology development and production.
Yinchuan has seven national high-tech enterprises and six R&D platforms belonging to enterprises above the autonomous region level. Last April, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Yinchuan Institute of Materials went into operation, becoming the highest-level new materials analysis and testing center in northwest China.
Yinchuan also tops the country in production of industrial sapphire with an annual production capacity of 5,500 tons.