Strategic emerging industries driving investment growth

Strategic emerging industries herald the direction of both scientific and technological innovation and industrial development.

At least 23 enterprises in Jiading District have planned to invest more than 100 million yuan (US$14.5 million) each this year, and the total investment is expected to exceed 6.8 billion yuan, according to the suburban district’s commission of economy.

Among them, strategic emerging industry investment projects account for more than 70 percent, evidence that enterprises are pinning high hopes on “new tracks” for their future growth.

Shanghai Baian Semiconductor Co Ltd, for instance, has invested 180 million yuan to build a new MEMS (Microelectro Mechanical Systems) sensor chip production line.

At present, more than 50 sets of MEMS chip production equipment have been put into storage, and will be installed as soon as this month after plant renovation work is completed.

As planned, small-scale trial production will begin in the second half of the year.

“We are debugging the production equipment for some MEMS sensor chips. When the entire production line is put into operation, it can achieve a monthly output of 1,000 MEMS sensor wafers and 1 million chips,” said Guo Liangjie, general manager of Baian Semiconductor.

Shanghai Maruhi Electronic Technology Co Ltd in Anting Town, meanwhile, plans to invest 230 million yuan this year to add an intelligent manufacturing line for electronic devices used in new-energy vehicles. It is estimated that annual output of the new line will hit about 1 billion yuan when it reaches full capacity.

“The company is currently facing a rare development opportunity but its existing plant and capacity can no longer keep up with the pace of orders,” explained Ouyang Jian, founder and deputy general manager of Maruhi.

“Therefore, it is urgent to expand production capacity to facilitate our development in the next five years.”

For Liando Group, an investor and operator of industrial parks, whose construction of the 540-million yuan, 120,000-square-meter Phase II of the Liando U Valley International Enterprise Port project in the district’s Waigang Town is on in full swing, its newest industrial park project in the Jiading Industrial Zone with a total investment of 180 million yuan also kicked off recently.

The two projects mean the company is further committed to investing and expanding its portfolio in Jiading, where there is already a pretty mature infrastructure for the development of new-energy and intelligent vehicle industrial clusters.