Since its establishment, Songshan Lake Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (the “Zone”) has always adhered to the direction of high-end industrial development. It has been vigorously developing new industries, striving to build a modern industrial system, and continuously upgrading its industries. After nearly 20 years of efforts, the industries in the Zone, such as information technology, biotechnology, intelligent equipment, new materials and production-oriented service, have continued to develop and grow. Besides, the Zone’s degree of industry cluster has enhanced, and its influence expanded. According to statistics, as of November 2020, there had been 10,359 enterprises in the Zone, with the number of the “four kinds of enterprises above designated size” reaching 363. The development of the main industries in the Zone is as follows:
Information Technology Industry
The information technology industry in the Zone has become a pillar industry with an asset scale of over 100 billion yuan. More notably, the fields of communication equipment and intelligent terminals are leading China and have reached the world’s advanced level. Overall, a sound industrial chain with the information and communication technology industry as the core has taken shape, covering all links of the supply chain from basic equipment, communication network, research and development, platform, production, operation and management to application services. It has gathered leading enterprises such as Huawei Device, Huabei Electronic Technology, SYTECH, TP-LINK, Goertek, Everwin Precision and Lens Technology. Currently, the Zone has 113 information technology enterprises above designated size, accounting for 33.24% of the total number of enterprises in Songshan Lake, including a total of 16 enterprises in the next-generation information network industry, 53 core electronics enterprises, 17 enterprises specialized in emerging software and new information technology services, 17 enterprises providing Internet, cloud computing and big data services, and 10 artificial intelligence enterprises.
Intelligent Terminal Industry
The Zone boasts a sound intelligent terminal industry system and has formed an industrial chain focusing on the manufacturing of complete machines and covering all links of the industrial chain from solution design, components and modules, batteries, peripheral accessories, complete machine manufacturing to application services, showing a trend of integrated and cluster development of enterprises and technology service platforms. It has gradually developed into an important carrier and incubator for Dongguan’s intelligent terminal industry.
2. 5G Industry
The Zone has formed a sound development trend in the field of 5G relying on its solid foundation in electronic information manufacturing. It has made strategic plans for such fields as base station systems, network architecture, 5G terminals and 5G applications. Besides, it boasts strong leading enterprises in the fields of network equipment, optical fibers, optical devices, optical modules, PCBs, antennas and terminals. At present, to suit the Zone’s 5G development plan, 678 macro base stations need to be planned and constructed to achieve full 5G network coverage in the next three years. This requires an investment amount of about 68 million yuan, of which a total of 2.73 million yuan has been invested. Construction of base stations will be undertaken by such representative enterprises as Huawei Machine, SYTECH, Everwin Precision, Han'S Laser, DAPU TELECOM, HTGD and Flender GmbH. The output value already exceeded 42 billion yuan in 2019. In addition, Huawei 5G Application Comprehensive Demonstration Area will be built into a core area of 5G innovation application and industrial development supported by leading network facilities, deep integration of demonstration applications, a sound industrial system, significantly enhanced innovation capability and stronger development momentum. By far, 98 sites have gone into operation with 2.4 million yuan invested.
3. Integrated Circuit Industry
In recent years, the integrated circuit (IC) industry in the Zone has been developing rapidly, concentrating most of the city’s IC design enterprises as well as material and equipment suppliers, and a cluster has basically taken shape. However, compared with such cities as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai, the overall scale of the industry in Dongguan is still relatively small, with few high-end enterprises and leading enterprises. The Zone is currently home to more than 50 IC manufacturing enterprises, including mainland IC design enterprises and overseas enterprises such as Taiwanese enterprises; there are well-known listed companies such as Ramaxel, Holtek Semiconductor and Cellwise Microelectronics as well as start-ups founded by returnees from the Silicon Valley in the US. The business types of these enterprises involve sensor chips, motion control chips, power management chips, video monitoring and digital photo chips, as well as electronic components chip design. One of the IC design enterprises in the Zone is Holtek Semiconductor Inc., a chip design leader in Taiwan and a listed company. It invested 60 million yuan in the Zone to set up Holtek Semiconductor as its mainland headquarters; Cellwise Microelectronics specializes in power meter chips for mobile devices, with cumulative shipments exceeding 400 million units. Its chips are widely used in such fields as drones, mobile phones and sports bracelets; Guangdong Hiway Integrated Circuit Technology Co., Ltd. has developed China’s first tire pressure monitoring chip with independent intellectual property rights, which has broken the monopoly of international chip makers and is used by many vehicle manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers. Currently, the Zone has formed a pattern of IC design industry driven by leading enterprises in specific fields with a group of potential start-ups developing together.
4.
Software, Artificial Intelligence and Internet Information Service
Industries
Statistics show that there are more than 1,000 companies providing software, artificial intelligence and Internet information services in the Zone. These service providers mainly focus on new software development and new information technology services. The Zone has gathered a group of strong enterprises such as Guangzhou iSoftStone Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Century Network Communication Equipment Co., Ltd. The latter, listed on National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), started to focus onanti-information fraud business back in 2010 and has developed into a leading anti-information fraud company and a leading manufacturer of telecom fraud protection systems in China. Its “Internet Banking Payment System” and “Smart Call Tracing System” have been awarded the title of “Guangdong Province High-tech Products” and have been applied in the anti-information fraud centers of many provinces and cities.
II. Intelligent Equipment
Industry
As to the intelligent equipment
industry, the Zone has formed a robotics industry cluster with
robotics system integrators, core component suppliers and intelligent
equipment manufacturers as key players. The robotics industry has
embraced large-scale development in recent years. In particular, it
has been developing fast in light robots and boasts a sound
industrial chain. However, it still needs to fill the gap in the
manufacturing of high-end key components and high-end system
integration services. At present, the Guangdong Intelligent Robotics
Institute and the Songshan Lake International Robotics Research
Institute have been established; a group of representative
enterprises have been introduced, including INOVANCE and Topstar; and
a group of small and medium-sized technology-based robotics and
intelligent equipment enterprises have been gathered here, including
GOOGOLTECH, Narwal Robotics and Quotient Kinetic Machine. There are
39 intelligent equipment enterprises above designated size in the
Zone, accounting for 11.17% of the total number of industrial
enterprises above designated size in Songshan Lake, including 21
intelligent equipment enterprises, 4 core components enterprises, 8
robotic system integration enterprises, 3 ontology manufacturing
enterprises and 3 service robot enterprises.
III. Biotechnology Industry
Since the establishment of the
cross-strait biotech base in 2012, the Zone has become the most
important base leading the development of Dongguan’s
bio-industry, gathering 80% of the city’s bio-industry
enterprises. The industrial ecology is becoming increasingly mature,
forming a cluster of several industrial chains such as innovative
drugs and high-end generic drugs, medical devices, in vitro
diagnostics, stem cells and regenerative medicine developing
together. It has gathered a group of bio-industry enterprises such as
HEC, Hongshanhu Pharmaceutical, Fapon Biotech, Zhongsheng Pharma and
CapitalBio Genomics. Preliminary statistics show that by the end of
2019, the cross-strait biotech base had gathered about 314 biotech
enterprises. Although most of them are medium and small-sized
start-ups, they have good growth potential and high industrial added
value, covering the cluster of multiple industrial chains such as
innovative drugs and high-end generic drugs, medical devices, in
vitro diagnostics, stem cells and regenerative medicine developing
together and forming a cluster of industries covering R&D,
production and sales. Currently, there are 24 biotechnology industry
enterprises above designated size in the Zone, including 7
biopharmaceutical production enterprises, 8 medical device equipment
enterprises, 3 bio-health food enterprises, 1 biotechnology research
and development enterprise and 5 other bio-services enterprises
specialized in such areas as health management, bio-industry
investment and medical treatment.
IV. New Materials Industry
The new materials industry in the
Zone already has a good foundation. Under the leadership of the large
scientific facility of the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS),
the hard power of innovation related to the new materials industry in
the Zone will be continuously enhanced. Currently, there are 23 new
materials industry enterprises in the Zone, including 16 advanced
petrochemical and chemical new material enterprises, 5 advanced
non-ferrous metal material enterprises, 1 advanced inorganic
non-metallic material enterprise and 1 enterprise specialized in
high-performance fibers & products and composite materials.
V. Production-Oriented Service
Industry
The Zone’s production-oriented service industry has been developing on many fronts in the fields of technology services, IC design, product research and development, inspection & testing services and industrial design. A group of high-quality enterprises have been introduced, such as EMTEK and ePRO Software. The agglomeration effects of the digital creative industry are becoming more and more obvious, laying a solid foundation for vigorous development of the cultural and creative industry. The Zone has gathered a group of representative enterprises such as EDIFIER Technology, Anitime Animation and Cooole Interactive Entertainment Technology. It is also home to cultural and creative service platforms such as Guangdong South China Industrial Design Institute and Dongguan South China Design Innovation Institute and has mapped out a network of professional parks such as Eco-Culture Creative Valley.