Tag: 36KR Holdings

A New Route for Chengdu to Develop its AI Industry

In February 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China (MIIT) issued its support to the establishment of National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovation and Application Pilot Zones in Beijing, Tianjin (Binhai New Area), Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Chengdu.

This is the second batch of pilot zones announced by the MIIT. So far, the number of China’s AI innovation and application pilot zones has increased to 8, while Chengdu has become the first AI innovation and application pilot zone in West China.

When we talked about the AI industry in Chengdu, the one thing we must know is Chengdu Science City. It is the core of the next-gen AI industry ecosystem in Chengdu. Chengdu promotes innovative development and high-quality development through new economy.

Attracting Top Enterprises
Now, a number of enterprises have established an industrial cluster with Chengdu Science City as the core, contributing to the AI industry.

With over 90 key enterprises in the ecosystem, the cluster has greatly contributed to the local transformation of AI technology. The ecosystem has also attracted many university project teams, including the Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute of Tsinghua University and Chengdu Innovation Research Institute of Beihang University, which have created ideal conditions for the integration of AI production and research.

In the wave of the digital economy, this ecosystem focuses on the development of AI industry, and it initially gathers companies from the whole supply chain. Gradually, Chengdu builds a complete industrial ecosystem and helps it become the “fourth city of AI.”

Attraction and Cultivation of AI Projects
The development of an industry cannot be separated from the support of policy. Since the MIIT started the support to the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovation and Application Pilot Zone in 2019, Chengdu has been actively putting it into practice. At present, relevant policies have been enacted to create a positive development environment for the industry.

These policies include two parts: First, introduce strongly targeted industrial support policies. Second, provide rich application scenarios for AI enterprises and attract AI enterprises.

In addition, the ecological environment is processing. First, optimize the enterprise service system. Second, promote the implementation of policies; Third, build an efficient communication platform.

Build Industrial Area
In terms of AI infrastructure construction, Chengdu has built industrial parks and facilities, such as the “Supercomputing Center” and the New Economy Industrial Park, to accelerate the implementation of the digital economy.

The Chengdu Supercomputing Center, with a maximum computing speed of 100 million billion calculations per second, started trial operation in September 2020. It has cooperated with more than 200 institutions and completed 1.52 million scientific research projects. The CPU utilization rate has reached 30%.

Huawei Kunpeng Industrial Ecosystem Base and Tianfu High-Performance Computing Public Technology Service Platform, and many other innovation platforms started operation, serving more than 400 enterprises and driving the development of the AI industry in Tianfu New Area.

The Unicorn Island, the Science and Technology Innovation Park, the Overseas High-level Talents Innovation Park, the Smart Port, and other core industrial carriers will create a favorable environment for the development of the AI industry. Zones A, B, C, and D of the New Economy Industrial Park have been put into use with about 6,000 employees.

Synergistic Development in Tianfu New Area
Digital economy industries such as AI and big data are frequently mentioned in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which was released last month. 36KR Sichuan learned that in the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Tianfu New Area New Economy Bureau will also launch a series of policies spurring the AI industry:

First, increase the number of innovation sources, deepen the construction of a “1+3+N” innovation system led by the Comprehensive National Science Center, with laboratories in three major fields as the core, and supported by a number of major scientific and technological infrastructure and research platforms.

Second, improve the business patterns for science and technology. Chengdu will introduce well-known service agencies from both China and overseas, accelerating the operation of Tianfu International Technology Transfer Center and build an innovation platform for the advanced computing industry based on the Chengdu Supercomputing Center.

Third, improve the ecology of the digital economy. Chengdu will accelerate the settlement of a number of leading enterprises, start the construction of a number of major projects, and spare no effort to promote the completion of provincial and municipal key projects such as M&S Electronics and put them into operation.

Fourth, optimize city management and industrial promotion. On the principle of “preferential in industry, composite in functions, intensified in space, and suitable for both living and business,” the construction of the first zone of Fengqigu Digital Economy Industrial Park will start within the year.

As the AI industry has become the core driving force for the new scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, Chengdu regards the AI industry as an important way to transform economic development. Hence, it promotes Chengdu to become the industrial highland of China’s new economy.

Media Contact
Chenxi Zhang, 36Kr
E-mail: zhangchenxi@36kr.com

Hidden Champions among Chengdu’s Technology Companies

From February 23rd to the 25th, the 9th Mobile World Congress (MWC) was held in Shanghai, China. A number of technology enterprises from Chengdu showed up with their innovative achievements and cutting-edge technologies. These companies are lesser-known companies – relatively unknown, small or midsize, and worldwide leaders in their markets.

You may see them grow slowly, compete in stable markets, and prefer to shun publicity to avoid attracting competition. They also concentrate on developing their own specialties, avoiding such currently popular management practices as diversification, strategic alliances, and outsourcing. Though not well known to the general public, in their fields of expertise, they are known as the “hidden champions.”

XpowerIt Tech: Pioneer of the “All-Wireless Era”
At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February this year, OPPO showed a scroll concept phone that can achieve complete wireless “remote charging.” The phone uses a high-frequency magnetic resonance wireless charging technology solution, which comes from XpowerIt Tech, an enterprise from the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone.

Yu Yiqiang, founder and Chairman of XpowerIt Tech, introduced the technical framework of this high-frequency magnetic resonance coupling technology. The company then launched a new generation of magnetic resonance wireless charging technology – “RiCharge,” which is the world’s first wireless charging technology solution with the possibility of mass production and matches both international and domestic safety standards.

It also marks the transformation from wired charging and contact charging to the current medium- and long-range remote charging, truly realizing charging methods in an “all-wireless era.” In the past 6 years, XpowerIt Tech has grown into a leader in the field of wireless charging in China.

Coxsat: New Power in 5G Era
As new infrastructure construction develops, the 5G era is accelerating like never before. In stadiums, large factories, stations, and other people-intensive places, which need large-capacity and large-bandwidth network, 5G millimeter-wave (MMW) small base station shows its great advantage. As one of the rare manufacturers in the world that can provide co-aperture dual-polarization MMW small base station, Coxsat unveiled a series of products, including 5G MMW small base station and MMW phased array antenna.

From unknown to famous, Coxsat has experienced 7 years of extreme dedication. As the first bid winner of China Mobile’s 5G MMW base stations in China, Coxsat has cooperated with many large domestic equipment manufacturers. In 2021, Gexie will focus on the commercialization of 5G MMW and satellite communication phased array antenna products, providing full support for 5G networks to enable various industries.

Chengdu NTS: More than a Behind-the-Scenes Hero
Based on years of experience in the development of RF communication products, Chengdu NTS has launched 5G open base station products and solutions and formed strategic cooperative relations with many domestic and international operators.

With the advent of 5G era, Chengdu NTS adopts self-developed DPD algorithms and high-efficiency technologies to take the lead in launching 5G white-box RRU and has achieved interconnection with a number of mainstream BBU manufacturers around the world to jointly launch 5G open base station products and solutions.

From relying on a large enterprise to assisting 5G to enable various industries, Chengdu NTS has been widely deployed in the global operator market and has accumulated rich experience in the development and industrialization of RF products, which has demonstrated its technological innovation for decades.

Why Are These “Hidden Champions” Born in Chengdu?
The “Chengdu Paradigm” of technology innovation revolves around their innovation platform, talent policy, financial support, and so on.

Talents are the primary resource. The “Talent New Policy” has attracted more than 410,000 young talents to the city, making the city the winner of the “Top 10 Most Attractive Cities for Talent in China” award continuously. As a result, Chengdu ranked 47th in the Global Innovation Index in 2020.

Universities are important platforms for basic research. By establishing a collaborative innovation mechanism of “Urban Development Partnership” between universities, institutions, enterprises, and local government, the city has signed strategic cooperation agreements with 18 well-known universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, bringing a number of innovative projects into practice.

In addition, Chengdu has vigorously implemented the program for supporting new and high-tech enterprises. In 2020, the city encouraged enterprises to invest 10.46 billion CNY in R&D through incremental awards and subsidies for research and development, up by 3.608 billion CNY.

There are many other steadily developing high-tech enterprises which are constantly overcoming technological hurdles in Chengdu since innovation-driven development has always been the choice and consensus of this city aiming at future development.

Media Contact:
Chenxi Zhang, 36Kr
E-mail: zhangchenxi@36kr.com