High-tech sectors spur efforts to restructure coastal economy

The electronic information industry is stimulating local economic growth in the coastal province of Fujian and upgrading the industrial structure, local officials say.

As one of the province's three pillar industries, the electronic information industry covers the fields of electronic products manufacturing, software services, informatization and radio management.

Fujian has remained at the forefront of the nation's electronic information industry in scale for years. During the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), sales revenue of the industry in the province increased from 226 billion yuan ($37.2 billion) to nearly 420 billion yuan, with an annual increase of 18 percent.

The information product manufacturing industry ranked sixth in the country in 2010, with a sales income of 280 billion yuan.

The output value of information products has accounted for about 40 percent of that of the high-tech and innovative products in the province in recent years.

The coastal area in Fujian is also home to one of China's first nine State-level electronic information industrial bases. Now, the province has more than 600,000 people working in the industry.

It has led the country in technologies of making high definition digital televisions, mobile phones, white light-emitting diodes as well as animated video game and its spin-offs, industrial application and information security software.

The provincial and municipal governments have also released policies to create a better commercial environment and speed up the pace of industrial growth.

Today, an advanced and wide-range information network system has been established in the province.

In 2012, optical lines in Fujian had a total length of 632,000 kilometers, extending Internet services to nearly 30 million users, according to a report from Fujian Communication Administration Bureau.

Fujian also boasts some 30 national and provincial laboratories and electronic information-related technology research and service centers, including the Xiamen Integrated Circuit Design Public Service Platform and the National LED Product Quality Testing and Supervision Center.

Its various chambers and commercial associations have played an increasingly important role in cooperation between companies in the province and Taiwan.

A group of Taiwan-funded corporations have set up their manufacturing bases in the province, which in turn has drawn a lot of associated businesses, like suppliers.

The Fujian government is focusing on upgrading and restructuring its industries. Software and information services have grown steadily in terms of their share of total local industry, from 22 percent in 2006 to 33 percent in 2010.

Furthermore, the provincial government has lent support to the latest information technologies, including the Internet of Things, computer and networking industries, broadband mobile communication technologies, LED and solar photovoltaic industries.

The government has issued a plan recently to set up at least 25 large companies in the new technologies industry before the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), with each having an annual volume of 10 billion yuan. The total industrial revenue will exceed 1 trillion yuan in 2015, according to the plan.

The province plans to sharpen the competitiveness of its computer and networking industry, with an emphasis on smartphones, laptops and cloud computing, according to a statement from the government.

It will also introduce the latest technologies to produce world-advanced liquid crystal display panels and encourage local companies to develop the supporting industries, such as color filters and polaroids to form a complete industrial chain.

Also, software companies need to further increase their research capacities, especially in applications needed to upgrade traditional industries, reduce energy consumption and raise the awareness of safety in production, local officials say.

The government also calls for more efforts to make technical breakthroughs in fields like 3D television, satellite navigation and radio frequency identification to building Fujian into an intelligent province, officials say.

The local government will continually support research on LED chips, epitaxial wafers and other products in the downstream industry as well as the commercialization of white LED products.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

Workers on the assembly line of the Fuqing Technologies Co. Zhu Xingxin / for China Daily

Photop Technologies Inc, a company in Fuzhou specializing in photonics products. Provided to China Daily

The West Straits Economic Zone includes the cities of Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Fuzhou in Fujian province. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 12/12/2013 page7)