AI and aerospace leading Baoan's seven key sectors

Baoan district in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has been strategically focusing on the development of seven key industries: artificial intelligence, aerospace technology, new materials, robotics, intelligent sensors, high-end medical devices and biopharmaceuticals.

Among these, AI stands out, driving significant industrial growth with a comprehensive industry chain already in place.

In the first half of this year, Baoan's AI industry achieved an output value of 22 billion yuan ($3.06 billion), marking a year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent, accounting for 28 percent of Shenzhen's total AI output.

The district is home to 424 AI companies, including 267 that are above designated size. Notably, Eagle Soul's AI data center has been recognized as a national major project within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Baoan cloud computing and data center has been designated as a national new-type data center.

Baoan has established a solid foundation in industrial machine vision and smart city algorithms. Companies such as HQVT Technology and Julong Video have been acknowledged as national specialized and innovative "little giant" businesses due to their strengths in intelligent vision technologies.

Approximately 80 percent of AI companies in Baoan operate in the technology application sector, contributing about 70 percent of the district's total AI output value. Several application demonstration scenarios have been successfully initiated in the district.

Baoan has gathered leading companies in large model technology, such as Tencent and Vivo, which are expected to deeply empower the local AI industry. Tencent, for example, offers a comprehensive range of products, including model bases, algorithm frameworks, development platforms, and industry applications. Vivo has developed its own BlueOS operating system, enabling interconnectivity across smart home, smart wearable, and smart transportation fields.

Moreover, Baoan has formed a supportive AI industry ecosystem, featuring an "internet plus" future technology city and several innovation and demonstration parks.

The future technology city, set to become Tencent's global headquarters, will cover an area of 809,000 square meters with a total development scale of 2 million sq m.

Upon completion, it will host seven major industrial clusters and attract upstream and downstream enterprises within Tencent's industry chains and business ecosystems.

The aerospace industry is another highlight in Baoan, with a well-established industry chain that includes product research and development, manufacturing, system integration, and application services.

The district has nurtured nearly 100 key enterprises in satellite operations, aerospace materials, aircraft and component manufacturing, satellite terminals and chips, and satellite applications.

A notable achievement in Baoan's aerospace sector is the communication satellite APSTAR-6D, operated by APT Mobile SatCom Limited.

This satellite is a part of China's first global high-throughput broadband satellite communication system, boasting the largest communication capacity, highest output power, and most complex design in the sector.