Gearing up for high-quality development

Officials said it was important to expand the superior industries while seeking high-quality development. So far, WND is actively building a new energy battery industry cluster, which has gathered a number of well-known Japanese and Korean power battery manufacturers, such as Panasonic Energy, GS Yuasa, Samsung SDI, a subsidiary of South Korea's Samsung Group.

Since 2018, LG Chemical Cathode Material Project and a number of other automotive power battery materials projects have been introduced into the district. This helps form a relatively complete industrial chain, including cathode materials, power battery cores and battery components, an official said.

In the integrated circuit industry, WND has also seen significant progress with a number of major projects introduced into the district since 2017. They include the global semiconductor manufacturer SK hynix plant project with an investment of $8.6 billion, Huahong semiconductor integrated circuit research and development and manufacturing base project with a total investment of $10 billion. This high-tech district will form an integrated circuit industry chain, an official said.

Official added that the district will continue to attract foreign investment and encourage them to go further into intelligent manufacturing and strategic emerging industries.

In 2018, the world-famous high-end electronic component supplier Japan Murata Manufacturing Co launched a $1.1 billion project to build two new bases to produce electronic components and new energy lithium battery. Once both projects have gone into production, the output value will exceed 10 billion yuan.

Murata set up its Wuxi subsidiary in 1994, and its annual output reaches 6.2 billion yuan.

The flower-shaped administrative service center has become a landmark of WND, a vital contributor to Wuxi's economic growth. Yu Xuehua / For China Daily

Wuxi National Software Park, also known as I-Park, gathers a number of high-tech enterprises. Jiao Huixin / For China Daily