Xi'an looks to become western China's Silicon Valley

Xi'an in western China's Shaanxi province, known as the new pivot on the Silk Road Economic Belt by foreign media, is cultivating emerging industries such as electronic information and striving to create an information technology industry with global influence.

The city of hard and core sciences

The Global Hard and Core Technology Innovation Conference held in Xi'an in November 2017 marked the beginning of Xi'an's exploration and research into the hard and core sciences.

Mi Lei, the creator of the "hard and core sciences" concept and associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that hard and core sciences is a general term for high-tech original technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, aerospace, biotechnology, optoelectronic chips and information technology.

"It features independent research and development, long-term planning, advanced technology and is difficult to be copied or imitated," he said.

"Hard and core sciences are more sophisticated than high-tech. It involves the hard power of social development and has the power to change the world," he added.

Since 1991, the Xi'an High-Tech Industries Development Zone has successfully built four leading industries - electronic information, advanced manufacturing, biomedicine and modern services - and has also formed a complete industrial chain and clusters in the fields of software and service outsourcing, semiconductors, intelligent terminals, and military and civilian integration.

Wu Feng, deputy director of the Innovation and Development Bureau of the zone, said that with the development of the western region and the gradual improvement of supporting facilities and services, Xi'an's advantages in science, technology and personnel are forming a "siphon effect" on domestic and foreign enterprises.

In 2012, the high-tech zone introduced Samsung Electronic's memory chip project. The first phase, with an investment of 10 billion US dollars, was completed and put into operation in 2014.

The project led to hundreds of supporting enterprises from home and abroad moving to the area. This included such companies as American Air Chemical, Sumitomo and Huaxun Microelectronics and enabled Xi'an to form a relatively complete semiconductor industry chain and accelerate its development into a new center of the global electronic information industry.

He Xiaoning, executive director of Shaanxi Semiconductor Industry Association, said that before the entry of Samsung, the output value of integrated circuits in Shaanxi was about 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion).

In 2016, the output value of the semiconductor industry exceeded 50 billion yuan. The number of semiconductor companies increased from just over 60 to more than 200.

He added that 70 percent of Shaanxi's import and export volume comes from semiconductor companies and is mainly concentrated in two companies, one of them being Samsung. Therefore, Samsung's project has played a vital role in promoting the development of an export-oriented economy in Shaanxi province.

Solid foundation for the development of the semiconductor industry

The number of colleges and universities in Xi'an is among the most in the country, and its scientific research strength is also among the best. In recent years, Xi'an has actively set up research and development centers and bases to cultivate high-tech personnel.

In order to support the production of Samsung's semiconductor factory, several supporting high-end storage projects, including the Samsung packaging test project and several Samsung R&D centers, were built in Xi'an in 2013.

A complete semiconductor production chain has been formed and a large number of outstanding engineers have been trained, which has laid a solid foundation for the development of China's semiconductor industry.

Xi'an has many universities and research institutes focusing on semiconductors. One-fifth of the nation's semiconductor personnel are from Xi'an. After the Samsung project was established, many personnel chose to return to work in Xi'an.

In 2017, Xi'an implemented three new policies regarding household registration, personnel, and innovation and entrepreneurship. At the same time, it built 422 maker spaces with an area of 13.89 million square meters, attracting 11,529 enterprises and 229,000 entrepreneurs.

Xi'an is on its way to becoming a center for innovation and entrepreneurship. Combining Samsung's cutting-edge semiconductor technology with strong capital, a global development vision and strong personnel training, Xi'an marks a new starting point for science and technology innovation.

Golden opportunity for building an international metropolis

The ancient capital of Xi'an is in an extremely rare and promising period for development.

In 2017, Xi'an signed a total of 847 projects worth 2.35 trillion yuan, the highest in history. The city was rated as "the most international investment city in China in 2017" by the media.

In order to adapt to the increasing demand for high-end memory chips in the global IT market, the second phase of the Samsung (China) Semiconductor Co's storage chip project started in Xi'an on March 28 this year, with a total investment of 7 billion US dollars.

Samsung CEO Kim Ki-nam said that Samsung would join hands with Xi'an to promote the city's sustainable development with the successful operation of the second phase and cutting-edge memory semiconductor products.

Experts believe that Xi'an has demonstrated an incredibly open attitude toward the Belt and Road Initiative and has entered a period of unprecedented opportunity.

Xi'an's development into a Belt and Road innovation capital and the Silicon Valley of western China is officially on the fast track.