City boosts position as industrial powerhouse

Weifang, a traditional industrial powerhouse in East China's Shandong province, has made remarkable achievements in industrial transformation and advanced manufacturing.

Manufacturing is Weifang's foundational and advantageous industry, according to the city government. Local officials said that one of the underlying reasons behind Weifang's strong development momentum is its sustained efforts in manufacturing.

Currently, Weifang has 4,142 industrial enterprises above designated size — those earning at least 20 million yuan ($2.83 million) annually. Last year, these enterprises' revenue totaled 1.1 trillion yuan, ranking second among cities in Shandong province.

Weifang has developed four industries with output value of more than 100 billion yuan including power equipment, the high-end chemical industry, food processing and new-generation information technology.

The power equipment industry's output value accounted for one-third of the national total and 176 companies in the industry have been approved as national high-tech enterprises, according to official statistics.

Of them, Weichai Holding Group, founded in 1946, is a domestically leading industrial equipment producer, with its business involving powertrain systems, commercial vehicles, agricultural equipment and intelligent logistics.

Committed to innovation, the group has set up an array of national laboratories and research institutes including the National Center of Technology Innovation for Fuel Cell.

In addition, Weichai has launched multiple intelligent manufacturing projects such as the marine equipment manufacturing center in Qingdao and a large digital industrial base in Weifang which mainly produces high-end engines.

The intelligent base, with a combined investment of 10 billion yuan, is considered a key project for Shandong province to replace old development drivers with new ones, local officials said.

Focusing on Weichai, the city government founded the Weifang Power Equipment International Cooperation Park in 2019 in a bid to improve the industry chain and attract more investment.

Companies in the park can receive customized services and benefit from a slew of supportive measures such as reduced rents, according to the operating department of the park.

As of January, the park was home to 35 enterprises including some from Germany, the ROK and Japan.

Weifang is also making efforts to cultivate emerging industries, with the aim of fostering the high-quality development of manufacturing industries and building a modern industrial system.

Established in 2001, the Weifang-headquartered company Goertek is one of the largest manufacturers of mid- and high-end virtual reality headsets in the world. Its other products include somatosensory controllers, smart watches and high-sensitivity speakers.

According to a ranking released by the Hurun Research Institute last year, Goertek ranked fourth among the top 200 Chinese enterprises with the greatest development potential in the metaverse.

Its new production base for VR intelligent hardware in Weifang Comprehensive Bonded Zone has started operations, and it is expected to generate an output value of 20 billion yuan every year.

Thanks to the VR giant, Weifang has attracted a batch of innovation-driven companies focusing on the metaverse, involving hardware production, software development and content creation, local officials said.

At the end of 2022, Weifang released a five-year (2022-26) action plan aiming to build itself into a hub of metaverse technological innovation and industry.

Weifang's metaverse industry is expected to be worth 350 billion yuan by 2026, according to the plan.