The rise of central China opens a new chapter | A "group" gathers strength for development

Promoting the rise of the central region is an important decision made by the CPC Central Committee.

In recent years, the central region has promoted the accelerated gathering of innovative development factors and the accelerated construction of a modern industrial system. National-level strategic emerging industry clusters and national advanced manufacturing clusters account for 27.3% and 17.8% of the country respectively; the total economic output has remained stable at more than 21% of the country.

Staff of HGTECH Corporation work on the laser equipment production line.

In the Phase III production workshop of the Gedian Park of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology Intelligent Equipment Industrial Park, on the country's first three-dimensional five-axis laser cutting equipment intelligent manufacturing production line, more than a dozen devices are about to be debugged and prepared to be shipped to a leading domestic new energy vehicle company.

Ren Yongjun, deputy general manager of HGLASER, a subsidiary of HGTECH, said, "Currently, this product is in short supply. It is not only popular in China, but also sold in Europe, America and some Southeast Asian countries. This year's orders have increased by 50% compared with the same period last year."

Located in China Optics Valley, Wuhan, Hubei, HGTECH Co., Ltd. has gone through the development process of more than 30 years for foreign companies in just ten years, from 0 to 1, from import to national production of core components, and then to leading sales and entering the European market. Currently, 70% of the country's 3D five-axis laser processing machine tools are produced by HGTECH.

Huagong Science & Technology Industry Co., Ltd., located in the "China Optics Valley" of Wuhan, Hubei, has made continuous breakthroughs in key core technologies and achieved complete localization of high-performance three-dimensional five-axis laser cutting machines.

Ma Xinqiang, chairman of HGTECH Co., Ltd., said, "Building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development requires strengthening scientific and technological innovation more than ever before. We plan to sign strategic cooperation agreements with more than 10 downstream leading companies to jointly promote the localization process through collaborative innovation."

"Named after light, prospered because of light". At present, China Optics Valley has built or is building five national large scientific facilities, and has also built the country's first artificial intelligence computing center and Wuhan Supercomputing Center. Jin Bo, project leader of China Optics Valley Science Island, said that since the "dual centers" were put into operation, they have helped 500 companies achieve high-quality development.

The picture shows the Wuhan Artificial Intelligence Computing Center located in the "China Optics Valley".

New materials are known as one of the two "underpinning technologies" of the manufacturing industry and are an important support for new industrialization. Strengthening the development of new materials industry clusters was written into the 2024 Henan government work report.

Yang Yong, director of the Materials Department of the Henan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, said, "Henan Province is a major materials province, and its new materials industry is spread across all areas of the materials industry. In particular, it has obvious advantages in non-ferrous metals, superhard materials, steel, and building materials, and has a first-mover advantage in the layout of new materials industries."

On February 22, in the electronic cloth preparation workshop of Henan Guangyuan New Materials Co., Ltd. in Linzhou City, Anyang, Henan Province, staff members were checking the warping machine. Photo by reporter Li An

From "introduction and digestion" to "independent innovation", from "general technology" to "core technology", from "traditional manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", Henan's new materials companies are gradually transforming to high-end fields. Wu Jingtao, assistant to the general manager of Luoyang Longhai Electronic Glass Co., Ltd. of CGF Group, said, "The ultra-thin substrate glass currently produced covers a thickness of 0.55 mm to 1.1 mm and more than 40 sizes. The 1.1 mm ITO electronic substrate glass produced in a long-term and stable manner has a domestic market share of 70%."

Superhard new materials, aluminum-based new materials, copper-based new materials, chemical new materials, advanced alloy materials... Since last year, Henan has cultivated and expanded 9 new material industry chains, accelerated the reconstruction of the material industry's advantages, and made every effort to build an important national material innovation highland and advanced material production base. Yang Yong said, "Using 'new' to improve 'quality', and 'quality' to promote 'new'. Driven by the construction of the chain group, Henan is accelerating its transformation from a province with a large amount of raw materials to a province with a strong position in new materials. Henan's new material industry is also moving towards a trillion-level industrial cluster."

The picture shows the intelligent float glass production workshop of Henan Zhonglian Glass Co., Ltd. Photo by reporter Zhu Xiang

The reserves of ionic rare earth resources in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, account for more than 80% of similar resources in the country. In recent years, Ganzhou's rare earth industry has gathered advantages and formed a trend, with a number of leading enterprises such as China Rare Earth Group and Jinli Permanent Magnet emerging. The industry scale has reached 100 billion yuan, and the rare earth new materials and application cluster has been selected into the list of national advanced manufacturing clusters.

Mao Huayun, deputy general manager of Jiangxi Jinli Permanent Magnet Technology Co., Ltd., said, "This product is mainly a high-performance permanent magnet produced using grain boundary penetration technology. The amount of heavy rare earth added can be reduced by more than 60%, while the performance can be improved by 20%, which greatly reduces the cost. It is currently widely used in new energy vehicles and white appliances, and has a very broad market prospect."

The picture shows high-performance permanent magnets produced on the production line of Jiangxi Jinli Permanent Magnet Technology Co., Ltd.

Relying on its rich resource advantages, Ganzhou has attracted many scientific research platforms to take root, helping local companies to accelerate key technology research and development, and leading the rare earth industry to continue to develop in high-end fields. Xie Hai, full-time deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee of Ganzhou High-tech Zone in Jiangxi Province, said, "We actively promote the extension of the rare earth industry to the middle and back end such as permanent magnet motors, and have built a thousand-acre motor industrial park, three theme industrial parks including rare earth new materials, tungsten deep processing industrial park and lithium battery new energy materials industrial park, and two functional areas, chemical concentration area and electroplating control area, and issued the ten golden rules for attracting investment in the permanent magnet motor industry. Next, we will take the road of innovation, promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises, accelerate the development of new quality productivity through measures such as building scientific research platforms and optimizing services, and strive to create a 'highland of scientific and technological innovation and a 100 billion park'."

The picture shows the Ganzhou High-tech Zone in Jiangxi Province. In recent years, Ganzhou's rare earth industry has gathered advantages and formed a trend, with a number of leading enterprises such as China Rare Earth Group and Jinli Permanent Magnet emerging. The industry scale has reached 100 billion yuan, and the rare earth new materials and application cluster has been selected into the list of national advanced manufacturing clusters.

Building a modern industrial system supported by advanced manufacturing has become a key step in promoting modernization in the central region. In line with China's high-quality development, the high-quality development in the central region is also accelerating.

A new pattern of "rise of central China" in the new era is taking shape.