The industrial footprint of Wuxi city in Jiangsu province is getting bigger as the city is set to strengthen the integrate circuit (IC) industry in its 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

A new government initiative was recently launched to set up a fund worth 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) to support the development of a batch of small and medium sized IC companies while fostering a number of industrial leading enterprises.

The output value of the industry is estimated to break 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) in 2017, given credit to the fund support which is the first time the city has rolled out in this respect.

Wuxi National Hi-tech District is the most conducive area in Wuxi for the development of integrated circuit industry with three professional parks --- the National Integrated Circuit Design Park, the Information Industry Science and Technology Park and Integrated Circuit Industry Park. [Photo provided to bizwnd.gov.cn]

Early in the 1980s, Wuxi was identified as the southern base of China's microelectronics industry. After more than thirty years of development, the overall size of the integrated circuit industry in Wuxi has occupied one fifth in the country’s total, making it rank second in the country.

To date, the city has more than 200 IC companies, half of which engaged in IC designing while others working on manufacturing and providing related services.

Zhang Keping, director of the Wuxi's information and radio administration bureau and an experienced explorer in smart city construction, explained that the city's advantage in IC industry has been lessened with its neighboring cities including Nanjing and Hefei pouring great investment in the area, which requires another potion of cardiotonic to revitalize the industry in Wuxi.

The policy coming out this time serves as such an effective prescription, according to which a first batch of 5 billion yuan will be raised to bring in major IC projects enhancing the productive level of local key enterprises.

Zhang said the city's IC industry will maintain focus on the innovation of core technologies, and revealed more supportive policies will be provided to the integrate circuit industry, including investment promotions and research and development.

Wuxi hosts a representative assembly of the Wuxi Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in Nov, 2016 to select a new board of directors, while discussing further development of the integrate circuit industry. [Photo provided to bizwnd.gov.cn]

Furthermore, a complete subsidy system is under developing to give bonus to excellent IC industry elites. Every year, the city will select ten best IC projects to give rewards worth 10 percent of the project's investment volume, up to 3 million yuan. Industry leading personnel introduced to the city will get a housing subsidy of 300,000 yuan.