Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries

I. Basic Information

Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries (hereinafter referred to as "XMTORCH"), approved by the State Council in 1991 as the first batch of national high-tech zones, is one of the three national high-tech zones in China which are named after "torch".XMTORCH has successively won such "national" titles as National High-Tech Product Export Base, National Cooperation and Exchange Base on Science and Technology towards Taiwan, National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base for Overseas High-Level Talents, national demonstration bases for mass entrepreneurship and innovation.serves as the heart of Xiamen Area for the building of Fuzhou-Xiamen-Quanzhou National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone in Fujian Province. 

Over the past 30 years, it has become the main engine of innovation-driven development, the primary platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, the gathering place for high-tech enterprises, and the main carrier of Xiamen's hundred-billion-yuan industrial chain (clusters). In 2023, XMTORCH achieved a comprehensive national ranking of 11th among 169 high-tech zones. 

Recognized as one of the first national model zones for land resource conservation and intensive use, Covering only about 3% of Xiamen's total area, XMTORCH contributes nearly 40% of the city's total industrial output value, and boasts that 82% of its output value comes from strategic emerging industries, 78% of the high-tech industrial output value.

In 2023, the zone's above-scale industrial enterprises generated a total revenue of 282.6 billion yuan, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 1.5%. The above-scale internet and software industry achieved approximately 40 billion yuan in revenue, marking a 24% year-on-year increase. Fixed asset investments amounted to 53.712 billion yuan, showing a year-on-year growth of 26.8%. The zone has been commended by the State Council for its innovation and entrepreneurship efforts in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. 

For eight consecutive years, XMTORCH has ranked first in the provincial evaluation of comprehensive development levels of development zones. XMTORCH is home to over 26,000 enterprises, including nine companies with annual output values exceeding 10 billion yuan and 428 companies with annual revenues exceeding 100 million yuan. The zone has nurtured 27 domestically and internationally listed companies and hosts over 60 projects established by Fortune 500 companies. XMTORCH is dedicated to boosting industrial growth by implementing an advanced manufacturing doubling plan, which has led to over a 115% growth rate in the new energy industry. Hithium Energy Storage has emerged as Xiamen's first unicorn company.

II. Industrial Development

As the primary hub for Xiamen's high-tech industries, XMTORCH consistently adheres to its "high-tech" and "innovative" positioning. The zone focuses on expanding and strengthening the electronic information industry, which includes four subsectors: flat panel displays, computer and communication equipment, semiconductors and integrated circuits, and software and information services. It also targets the mechanical equipment (electrical equipment) industry, new energy industry, and other industrial chains, such as artificial intelligence, new materials, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet, and medical and smart health industries.

In recent years, under the robust leadership of the CPC Xiamen Municipal Committee and the Xiamen Municipal People's Government, XMTORCH has concentrated on Xiamen's "4+4+6" modern industrial system. It has leveraged its high-tech industrial clusters and specialized investment promotion advantages, focusing on attracting major and high-quality projects. The zone aims to solidify its industrial foundation further and supports XMTORCH in playing a pivotal role in the city's investment promotion efforts. The zone has successfully facilitated the establishment of multiple ten-billion-yuan projects, including CATL Xiamen, Ampace, Xiamen Tianma, CALB, and Hithium Energy Storage. Additionally, it has driven the development of key supporting projects in the industrial chain, such as Chengtun Lithium Iron Phosphate Cathode Materials, Heespower, EVOGO, Kedali, Sitan Micro-LED, and Xiang Fu Xing Polarizer, centered around leading enterprises.

III. Park Carrier

With an aim to build a demonstration zone of innovation-driven development and a pioneer zone of high-quality development, as well as an important high-tech industrial base on the west bank of the Strait, XMTORCH insists on cross-island development and has established a development pattern of "multiple parks within a single zone", comprising Torch Huli Park, Xiamen Software Park (Phases I, II, III), Xiamen Technological Innovation Park, Torch (Xiang'an) Industrial Zone, Xiamen Innovation and Entrepreneurial Park, and Tongxiang High-tech Industrial Base, etc. The parks are distributed in the five administrative districts of Siming, Huli, Jimei, Tong'an, and Xiang'an inside and outside the island, which are integrated with each administrative district to form distinctive industrial clusters. With more than 50 investment projects of Fortune Global 500 settling here, XMTORCH has attracted over 10,000 enterprises.

IV.Industrial Guidance Fund

In July 2020, XMTORCH officially established an industrial guidance fund with a total scale of 3 billion yuan. This fund adheres to the principles of "government guidance, market operation, scientific decision-making, and risk prevention." It carefully selects investment institutions that align with the strategic development positioning of the High-Tech Zone to set up sub-funds. Currently, 11 sub-funds have been approved, including Zhongbing Guotiao, Huiyou Haojia, Lianhe Phase II, Lianhe Phase III, Namu, and Puquan, with a total scale exceeding 24.4 billion yuan. By leveraging the resources of these sub-funds and investment institutions, the High-Tech Zone has successfully attracted 30 projects, including Zhongbing Wealth, Tingxin Semiconductor, Fortsense, Eastern Jin Technology, Tonglixing, Lixin Yuan'ao, Biqian Medical, Genepoint, and TenaFe. The total registered capital of these projects amounts to 4.798 billion yuan.

V. Industry Service Platform

1. Beneficial Services for Enterprises

XMTORCH has established a working leadership group and task force for "Beneficial Services for Enterprises," set up a new enterprise service hotline, and introduced a series of work plans such as "Enterprise Service Grid Management," "Enterprise Service Request Handling," and "Cadre Hook-Up Service for Enterprises." It has also built an information platform for "Smart Torch" enterprise services, with relevant information modules covering eight special services and ten distinctive services. Of these, the eight specialized services include: support for specialized and new enterprises, enterprise listing cultivation, high-tech enterprise cultivation, gazelle enterprise cultivation, high-level talent attraction and cultivation, incubation services, intellectual property services, and industrial fund services. The ten distinctive services include: a financial service platform, an intelligent manufacturing service platform, Torch innovation vouchers, "1+N" enterprise service workstations, Creation Plus stations, specialized talent services, Torch Industrial Alliance, Torch Academy, the tax innovation index, and environmental steward services.

2. Innovation and entrepreneurship platform

XMTORCH guides the construction of various incubation carriers, and builds a whole-chain incubation system of "mass innovation space (nursery) - incubator - accelerator - industrial park" centering the development of leading industries and supporting needs of leading enterprises. Currently, more than 200 various innovation platforms have been established,There are 25 national-level innovation spaces and 5 national-level incubators.

3. Public service platform

XMTORCH is constantly improving its service system by taking advantage of the "three assistants" of state-owned enterprises administered by commissions, intermediaries and industrial alliances, and providing enterprises with services featuring "whole process", "high coverage" and "strong response", so as to comprehensively help enterprises in the park to innovate and develop. Currently, a number of public service platforms have been built, such as XMTORCH Intelligent Manufacturing Service Platform, Intelligent Manufacturing Platform, Financial service platform, graphene new material public technology platform, supply chain service platform, and policy fulfillment intelligent approval system.

4. Innovation Empowerment Platform

On May 9, 2021, Xiamen Torch Academy, the first industrial education platform in China’s high-tech zones, was officially established. Since its inception, Torch Academy has focused on "industrial education," launching training programs in strategic leadership for outstanding entrepreneurs, cultivation of specialized and new enterprises, versatile managers, industrial leaders, and skilled talents. It has built a high-end faculty pool of nearly 300 mentors, forming a comprehensive industrial talent education and training system. Torch Academy is committed to serving the high-tech zone's industrial investment and development through the establishment of an industrial exchange platform and a new industrial think tank.

5. Bonded logistics platform

Xiamen Torch (Xiang'an) Bonded Logistics Center, which began operations in 2009, Xiamen Torch (Xiang'an) Bonded Logistics Center is the first Type B bonded logistics center in Fujian Province, adjacent to the optoelectronic industry intensive area of XMTORCH. It has developed a new "one park, two zones" model that integrates bonded and non-bonded operations. This model promotes the development of international transshipment, cross-border e-commerce, and domestic and international distribution, creating a distinctive digital logistics park.