Chengdu Electronic Information Industry Functional Zone Photo: Courtesy of Chengdu Electronic Information Industry Functional Zone

On October 28, Intel announced it would invest $300 million into its packaging and testing base located in the Chengdu High-tech Zone. This move will add server chip packaging and testing facilities to the existing client product packaging and testing base, establish a customer solution center, and enhance the efficiency of the local supply chain while further increasing support for Chinese customers.

With Intel's additional investment, the industrial standards of the Chengdu Electronic Information Industry Functional Zone (High-tech West Zone) continue to improve. In early October, Idemitsu Kosan and Ruilian New Materials agreed to expand and increase investment in the Idemitsu Electronic Materials (China) manufacturing base in the Chengdu High-tech Zone; Yicheng Technology successfully achieved mass production of high-density FOMCM platforms at the board level, making it the only company in the Chinese mainland with this capability. This series of development efforts is driving the optimization and upgrading of the park's industrial structure.

According to reports, as the main hub for Chengdu's electronic information industry, the Chengdu High-tech West Zone focuses on three primary areas: "core," "screen" and "end." Playing a leading role in cross-regional linkage, the zone brings together many of the world's top 500 companies, thus strengthening, extending and supplementing the supply chain to create a globally competitive electronic information industry hub.

Leveraging the innovation resources of local universities, such as the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, the Chengdu High-tech West Zone has built a four-tier industrial science and technology innovation system that includes "strategic platform-transformation, platform-specialized science and technology park-innovation ecosystem," forming a comprehensive network for science and technology innovation. Attracting numerous enterprises, the park provides seamless "one-stop" services, from project initiation to completion and production through a full life-cycle management system. Tailored services and industrial support policies geared toward different enterprises lay a strong foundation for additional investment and expansion.

As Sichuan Province's primary "5+1" key specialty zone and Chengdu's main economic driver, the Chengdu High-tech Zone, represented by internationally and domestically known companies like Foxconn, Siemens, Intel, Texas Instruments, Huawei, and BOE, has developed advantageous clusters in integrated circuits, new displays, and smart terminals.

Jiaozi Financial Business District Photo: Courtesy of Chengdu Electronic Information Industry Functional Zone

In the integrated circuit field, the Chengdu High-tech West Zone is helping the Chengdu-Chongqing region develop as China's "fourth pole" in integrated circuits. The park, which has more than 180 companies, offers a complete industry chain ecosystem from IC design and wafer manufacturing to packaging, testing, and equipment materials. Notable achievements include Haiguang server CPUs reaching world-class levels, Texas Instruments establishing the world's only integrated production base for wafer manufacturing, packaging, testing, and bump processing, and Intel's Chengdu factory producing 55 percent of global notebook CPUs.

In the field of new displays, the Chengdu High-tech West Zone aiming to create a "World Soft Valley" with global influence focused on flexible displays and Micro-LEDs, the park has gathered over 20 upstream and downstream enterprises to create a complete industrial ecosystem. The country's first and the world's second 8.6-generation AMOLED production line, with a total investment of 63 billion yuan ($8.8 billion), is located here, positioning Chengdu to become the largest flexible panel production base in the country upon completion.

In intelligent terminals, the Chengdu High-tech West Zone is building a world-class "Chengdu Intelligent Manufacturing" brand. The zone includes two world-renowned "lighthouse factories," Foxconn and Siemens, with Siemens also awarded as a "Sustainable Lighthouse Factory," making it Sichuan's only "double lighthouse factory." Over 60 percent of iPads and 50 percent of MacBooks globally are produced here, forming a strategic emerging industry cluster with a focus on computing terminals, complemented by specialized smart terminal products.

In 2023, the 283 electronic information industrial enterprises in the Chengdu High-tech Zone achieved a total output value of 328.9 billion yuan, with a trade import and export value of 393 billion yuan.

The Chengdu High-tech West Zone will continue to focus on the goal of "optimizing quality, establishing a unique park, empowering and increasing efficiency, and attracting enterprises," and will promote coordinated efforts in talent, infrastructure, funding, policy and openness to further boost high-quality regional economic development.