Wuxi's modern economy places it in trillion-yuan club

The government of Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province has announced that the city's GDP surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($ 154 billion) in 2017, Xinhua News reported on Wednesday.

Wuxi, following Suzhou and Nanjing, became the third city in Jiangsu province to join the ranks of the trillion-yuan club, thanks to advanced industrial expansion driven by internet technologies and infrastructure spending.

Its GDP reached 1.05 trillion yuan ($156.7 billion), a year-on-year growth of 7.4 percent, which is the first time Wuxi has exceeded the average growth on GDP of Jiangsu province in five years.

One of the reasons for Wuxi's economic success is its continuous focus on the real economy, according to local government officials.

The government has carried out policies affirming the financial industry's support for the real economy to increase low-cost efficiency and further promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.

According to government statistics, the output value of enterprises above designated scale in Wuxi is up to 158.61 billion yuan ($ 226.59), with industrial added value up to 338.2 billion yuan ($50.5 billion).

After years of industrial upgrading and structural reform, high-tech companies like Huawei and Alibaba are making considerable investment in Wuxi, and the city is now home to projects related to integrated circuits and the Internet of Things.

At the end of 2017, there were nearly 2,000 IoT companies in Wuxi, earning revenues of over 200 billion yuan ($30.23 billion). An IoT industry chain, including sensors, communications, On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) and basic support, has rapidly formed in Wuxi.

"From a traditional manufacturing city that relied on labor and resources to a smart city focusing on intelligent manufacturing, Wuxi's progress demonstrates the transformation of the manufacturing sector in Jiangsu, and even in China," said executive deputy mayor Huang Qin.

Wuxi's policy incentive for enterprises also helped to achieve the city’s trillion yuan GDP. To the end of 2017 46,000 new enterprises and 71,300 individual businesses had launched in Wuxi with year-on-year growth rates of 20.6 and 34.9 percent.

In addition to supporting its steadily growing economy, Wuxi is also devoted to continually improving air quality to create a healthier and safer living environment, achieving "Green World Cities" status in 2017.