Beijing - Zhongguancun Science Park

Zhongguancun Science Park

Facts&Figures (2007)

Source: Administration Committee of Zhongguancun Science Park

Introduction

In 1988, Zhongguancun Science Park (Zhongguancun SP) was approved as China’s first high-tech park by the State Council. Four years later, it was established as a state-level industrial park.

Zhongguancun SP consists of ten parks which are located in different districts of Beijing, including Haidian Park, Fengtai Park, Changping Park, Yizhuang Park, Desheng Park, Shijingshan Park, Yonghe Park, Tongzhou Park, Electronic Town and Daxing Biopharmaceutical Industrial Park.

The parks all enjoy convenient transportation systems and are located within 40 km of the city center. Besides five ring roads, the city has seven expressways leading to Shijiazhuang, Kaifeng, Tianjin, Shenyang, Chengde, Badaling and Beijing Capital International Airport.

In 2007, the passenger and cargo throughputs of Beijing Airport reached 53.6 million and 1.4 million tons, ranking first and second in China. The airport has flights to ninety-six domestic cities and ninety-one overseas destinations.

Tianjin Port is the main passageway for cargo from Beijing, North and Northwest China entering the Bohai Sea. In 2007, the port's cargo throughput reached 309 million tons, ranking fourth in China (after Shanghai, Ningbo and Guangzhou) and sixth in the world.

Beijing is now the largest education center in China. By the end of 2007, there were eighty-three universities and colleges in Beijing, with a total enrolment of 568,000. The nation's most famous universities are located in Beijing. They include Peking University and Tsinghua University, dubbed China’s Harvard and MIT respectively.

Investment Climate

Known as China's "Silicon Valley", the SP's predecessor is the former Street for Electronics in the Zhongguancun area of Haidian District in the 1980s. The forming of this street was not based on any predefined plans, but was determined by an increasing number of merchants who began selling computer hardware in the area. They chose the location because the nation's largest PC manufacturer, Lenovo (formerly known as Legend), established their headquarters there. It was followed by Tsinghua Tongfang and Founder Group, both of which are major domestic PC manufacturers.

Since its founding, Zhongguancun SP's economy has maintained an average annual growth of 30%. By 2007, over 20,000 high-tech companies had established businesses in the SP, with a total of more than 954,000 employees. 800 of these companies have annual revenues of more than RMB 100 million, while 106 are listed companies.

In 2007, the revenue of all the high-tech companies in the SP reached RMB 859.6 billion, up 27.4% over the previous year and accounting for about one seventh of the total revenue of China's fifty-four state-level high-tech industrial development zones. Their value-added industrial output reached RMB 160 billion, equal to 17.8% of the city's GDP. The SP's export reached US$15.1 billion, accounting for 30.9% of the city's total export.

These companies were mainly engaged in the businesses of software, integrated circuits, computers, network technology, and communication technology and equipment. They accounted for 40% of the nation's desktop PC market and 25% of the notebook PC market. Their software and integrated circuits design businesses accounted for one third of the country's total, while their software export contributed to one half of the nation's total.

Haidian Park is the most important of the ten parks. It is a commercial center that focuses on the R&D and incubation of high-tech industries. The pillar industries in this park include electronics and information technology, biopharmaceuticals, opticals, mechanical and electronic integration, new materials, new energy and environmental science.

In 2007, the revenue of companies in Haidian Park reached RMB 394.0 billion, accounting for 45.8% of the SP's total. The electronics and information technology industry is the most dominant, contributing 67.5% of the total revenue. Lenovo Group, Digital China, Kingsoft and Tencent are major companies in the park. Lenovo, which has over 25,000 employees throughout the world, realized a revenue of US$16.4 billion in 2007, while its market share in China reached 35.2%.

Haidian Park has strong R&D capabilities. Haidian District, where the park is located, is home to thirty-nine universities including Peking University and Tsinghua University, dubbed China’s Harvard and MIT respectively. It also has 213 research institutes (including the Chinese Academy of Sciences), forty-one national engineering centers, forty-two key labs, and ten national technical centers.  

Yizhuang Park is the second largest in the SP by revenue. It is located in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area. In 2007, the revenue of companies in Yizhuang Park reached RMB 223.5 billion, accounting for 26.0% of the SP's total.

By the end of 2007, there were 549 high-tech companies in Yizhuang Park, including sixty Fortune 500 enterprises. Nokia and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) are major investors in this park. The Shanghai-based SMIC is the largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry in Mainland China, providing integrated circuit manufacturing services at 0.35 micron to 65 nanometer, and finer line technologies.

Beijing, where the SP is located, is one of China's fourteen service outsourcing bases. In 2007, its revenue in the service outsourcing industry exceeded US$2.0 billion, accounting for about one third of the nation's total, of which, service outsourcing in the financial sector accounted for over 40%. Other outsourcing services include information technology outsourcing, R&D outsourcing and logistics services outsourcing. Presently, Beijing ranks first in terms of its service outsourcing export. Of the top ten domestic service outsourcing companies, half have chosen Beijing for the location of their headquarters. They include UFIDA Software, Beyondsoft, and Chinasoft International.