In the past, local governments nationwide pursued somewhat similar policies to attract investors, offering land use incentives and tax cuts. Anhui seemingly shaped a philosophy of its own.

The province listed 10 main sectors as strategic emerging industries, among them new-generation information technology, new-energy vehicles (NEV) and intelligent and connected vehicles (ICV), artificial intelligence and new materials.

"The provincial government has created a team of officials specifically for each of the sectors, and each is headed by a provincial leader who is known as the 'chain head'," Wang said during the CCTV program.

The governor himself is the chain head of the new-generation information technology sector, which now includes major semiconductor makers like ChangXin Memory Technologies and Nexchip Semiconductors, as well as some 300 upstream and downstream firms.

"The chain is actually four-in-one, namely combining the industrial development, science and technology innovation, financial and talent chains," he said.

The main plants of BOE Technology Group Co Ltd and Visionox Technology Inc－both leading domestic Chinese display panel suppliers－are in Hefei.

"We have located our flexible and foldable screen plant here primarily because of market regulations," said Zhang Deqiang, president of Visionox.

"With the support of successive chain heads over the years, Anhui has built up a cluster of display panel and semiconductor companies. For example, we can easily get materials like glass, chips and organic materials locally, which helps us save up to 15 percent on logistics costs," he said.