I. Basic conditions of Hi-tech Zone
(I) Zone:Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries (“Hi-tech Zone”or “the Zone”) (Figure 1) was founded in 1990. It is one of the three national hi-tech zones containing the title of "torch" in China. It was included in the first national catalog of hi-tech zones upon approval of the State Council in 1991. In order to actively implement the cross-island development strategy of the CPC Municipal Committee and the Municipal Government, the Zone has established "multiple parks in one zone", including 6 manufacturing bases and 3 software parks.
They primarily include: Torch Park (primarily power electric device industries, as Figure 2 shows), Information Photo-electronic Park(computer and mobile communication industry, as Figure 3 shows), Entrepreneurship Park (science and technology incubation, as Figure 4 shows), Torch (Xiang'an)Industrial Zone (panel display, IC, LED, as Figure 5 shows), Meifeng Ecological Technology Park (modern service industry and headquarters), Tongxiang Hi-tech Industrial Base (equipment, new material and other high-end manufacturing), Software Park Phase I (Figure 6), Phase II (Figure 7) and Phase III (Figure 8). It has a total planned area of 93sqkm and a developable plot of 80sqkm (mostly village, commercial, residential, public service and accessory service plots and 20sqkm industrial plots). Constructions on 40sqkm plots (15sqkm industrial plots) have been completed with over 6,600 enterprises and about 300,000 employees.
(II) Industry: In 2018, the Torch Hi-tech Zone ranked the 15th among all 157 national hi-tech zones nationwide and had 60 gazelle enterprises (ranking the 8th in China). Its growth rate is always 2 percentage points higher than the municipal average in industrial output and software operating revenue. Its total industrial output amounted to 275.6 billion Yuan, or 42.7% of the municipal total; its software-industrial revenue exceeds 100 billion Yuan (100.12 billion Yuan), or 67.1% of the municipal total. It had 7 10B-Yuan enterprises (8 in total in Xiamen), including Dell, Tianma and TPK, 775 hi-tech enterprises (accounting for 47.6% of the municipal total), 75 local innovation and entrepreneurial talents under the provincial "Hundred Talent Program" and 10 talents under the national "Recruitment Program of Global Exports" (accounting for 41.0% and 62.5% of the municipal total respectively); it has over 1,000 new enterprises each year and has had paid-in foreign investments of over 3 billion Yuan in the last two years, ranking the highest in Xiamen.
(III) Team: The CPC Work Committee and Administration Committee of Torch Hi-tech Zone are the dispatched facilities of the CPC Xiamen Municipal Committee and Xiamen Municipal Government respectively and have 36 civil servants in total. They have 5 state-owned enterprises and public institutions, including Entrepreneurship Center, Software Investment and Development Co., Ltd., Investment Promotion Center, Financial Service Center and Statistics Service Center, with a total workforce of 299 employees. Meanwhile, the municipal-affiliated Torch Group and the Information Group are under the management of the Administration Committee and undertake the corresponding work as subsidiaries of the Committee.
The Administration Committee works with the governments of the districts where various parks and zones are located to promote the construction and administration of the Zone. The Torch Hi-tech Zone Administration Committee is mainly in charge of the industrial planning, investment promotion, park construction, enterprise service and other economic issues of the Zone; the governments of various districts are mainly in charge of land requisitioning and removing, commercial infrastructure, production safety, security management, talent household registration, child education and other social affairs.
II. Industrial Chains and Integrated Infrastructures of the Hi-tech Zone
Today, the Torch Hi-tech Zone has 5 prevailing industries: In 2018, the panel display industry (Figure 9-13) achieved an output of 126 billion Yuan, or 96% of the municipal total and ranking the first in the classified evaluation of national new-type industrialization demonstration bases; the computer and communication equipment industry (Figure 14-17) achieved an output of 95.3 billion Yuan, or 79.6% of the municipal total; the semiconductor and IC industry achieved an output of 34.2 billion Yuan, or 81.9% of the municipal total, and the Zone was honored as one of the national top 10 outstanding IC industrial zones (ranking the sixth nationwide in its scale); the power electric device industry achieved an output of 15.2 billion Yuan and the Zone has global influences in such niche sectors as power transmission and distribution and full-set equipment; its software and information service industry achieved an operating revenue of 100.1 billion Yuan, accounting for 2/3 of the municipal total and 1/3 of the provincial total. Xiamen Software Park ranked the seventh in general evaluation and the first in growth index among all software bases nationwide.
Main industrial carriers include: Torch Park (primarily power electric device), Information Photo-electronic Park (computer and mobile communication industry), Entrepreneurship Park (science and technology incubation), Torch (Xiang'an) Industrial Zone (panel display, semiconductor and IC), Meifeng Ecological Technology Park (modern service industry and headquarters), Tongxiang Hi-tech Industrial Base (equipment, new material and other high-end manufacturing) and Software Park Phase I, I and III. It has a total planned area of 93sqkm and a developable plot of 80sqkm (mostly village, commercial, residential, public service and accessory plots; and 20sqkm industrial plots, of which 40sqkm (15sqkm industrial plots) have been completed with a total of over 6,600 enterprises and a total workforce of about 300,000. The Zone has industrial workshops of state-owned enterprises in a construction area of 1,441,400sqm, including the industrial workshops in a construction area of 891,200sqm in the remaining part, with the investment promotion work basically completed; the incremental industrial workshops (projects under construction) in a construction area of 550,200sqm are progressing as scheduled and the settlement of investment promotion projects is also going on simultaneously.
The newly-constructedzone is designed with special emphasis on integrated development of industrial and living infrastructures and the high-standard construction of park infrastructures and living facilities in order to make it convenient for investment promotion. In order to address the weaknesses of the Zone in supporting facilities, improve the public infrastructures and educational, residential and commercial facilities of the Zone and provide stable and adequate power, water and other production and living supplies to enterprises, the Hi-tech Zone has completed and launched 6,651 apartments in 13 apartment building projects in a total construction area of 44,000sqm in recent years and leased them to employees of the Zone at 70% market prices, including Software Park Phase II Apartment Building, Software Park Phase III Apartment Building, Jiafu Huayuan Phase I and II Talent Apartment Building, Lingdou Apartment Building, Entrepreneurship Park Apartment Building, Yucheng Center Apartment Building, etc., which substantially satisfied the housing demands of corporate employees. Today, active measures are being taken to aggressively promote the construction of 6 schools, including the Torch International School and Xiang'an Torch School, in order to satisfy the educational needs of employees’ children in the Zone.
