North China's Hebei province is reaffirming its commitment to creating a first-class business environment, announcing a fresh set of measures focused on data empowerment and fair market competition, officials said at two separate news conferences on Friday.

The province will leverage its position as a national leader in computing power to make data as accessible as utilities for businesses, according to Hou Guisong, head of the Hebei provincial data and government affairs bureau.

Hebei's comprehensive computing power index has ranked first in the country for two consecutive years, according to Hou.

"We are accelerating the shift of public data from quantitative leadership to qualitative leadership," Hou said, highlighting plans to develop over 100 data products and surpass 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) in data transactions this year.

Central to this push is the deepening of Hebei's pioneering "double-blind" bid evaluation process, a system designed to root out favoritism in public tenders.

Zhang Tong, a deputy director of the bureau, said that artificial intelligence will be extensively used this year to scrutinize tender documents for hidden barriers and monitor evaluators in real-time, ensuring a fair and transparent process for all bidders.

Concurrently, the Hebei provincial market regulation administration is sharpening its focus on service and protection to stimulate market vitality.

The administration has facilitated the relocation of 659 companies from neighboring Beijing and 188 from Tianjin to Hebei last year, according to director of the administration Zhang Xuejun.

This was achieved through a streamlined, one-application process for cross-provincial business migration.

To foster a more dynamic market, the administration is also enhancing intellectual property protections and financial support for quality-driven firms.