High value-added and high-tech emerging industries in Xiamen are now playing a leading role in promoting the city's economic development. [Photo/xmhcicc.net]

Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, has long been at the forefront of China's reform and opening-up, and in recent years, the city has beefed up efforts to promote the development of emerging industries, local media reported on Dec 17.

High value-added and high-tech emerging industries, including semiconductor devices, integrated circuits (IC), biological medicine, healthcare, software, and information services, are now playing a leading role in promoting the city's economic development.

Xiamen is currently home to 1,626 national high-tech enterprises, accounting for 42.8 percent of all such enterprises in Fujian. The output value of high-tech industries above designated size accounts for 71.2 percent of the city's total industrial added value, and half of the city's tax revenue was generated by the new economy and businesses.

A variety of policies was released on July 29 to support high-tech enterprises with strong growth potential. The city plans to develop micro, small, and medium-sized companies into high-tech, high-growth, and high-added value enterprises within five years.

By the end of December 2019, the city had gathered more than 170 IC firms, including many industry leaders such as Sanan Sino-Science, and a complete industrial chain including IC design, manufacturing, materials, and close beta testing, had taken shape in the city.

Thanks to effective measures taken by the Xiamen government, it took just six years for the city to develop a successful IC industry.

Since 2015, the output value of the city's IC industry has maintained a growth rate of more than 20 percent, and by 2018, the semiconductor and integrated circuits industries had achieved a total output value of 41.5 billion yuan ($5.97 billion).

The city has attached great importance to increasing the capacity of software enterprises for independent research and development, and has introduced more tax and fee reductions.

Statistics showed that in 2018, revenue from Xiamen's software and information technology services hit 149.32 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of Fujian's total. The city is now home to over 120 software enterprises worth more than 100 million yuan, including 76 listed companies (including National Equities Exchange and Quotations).

In addition, the power equipment and electronics industry was listed as one of six leading industries in the Xiamen Torch High-Tech Zone. Over the years, the city has attracted a number of enterprises with impressive scientific and technological capabilities, and a complete industrial chain is currently taking shape there.