21st Century Business Herald:

We acknowledge that Shaanxi has been promoting high-quality development in recent years, and has rolled out a number of major projects in sectors such as new energy vehicles (NEVs), semiconductors and integrated circuits. Could you briefly speak on the progress made in these fields? Thank you.

Zhao Gang:

Thank you for your interest in and support for Shaanxi's NEV sector and other emerging industries.

Shaanxi boasts a complete industrial system and serves as a key manufacturing base in China. It has the foundation, conditions and advantages needed to develop a modern industrial system with distinctive Shaanxi characteristic and to foster new quality productive forces. In recent years, focusing on establishing such industrial systems, we have nurtured a number of industrial chains and clusters characterized by the new quality productive forces.

We have leveraged the anchor role of energy industries. Shaanxi is a major energy-producing province in China with the output of coal, petroleum and natural gas ranking among the highest in the country. In the meantime, a significant portion of the coal, petroleum and natural gas that we produce is also supplied to our sister provinces. As a key energy producer, Shaanxi has contributed its part to the nation's energy security system. In recent years, we have also accelerated the development of clean energy project and those concerning energy storage, providing stronger support for China's energy security.

Moreover, Shaanxi possesses abundant high-quality coal resources. We have developed a number of coal chemical projects in the northern part of the province. Focusing on manufacturing high-end, diverse and low-carbon products, we have created industrial chains that encompass coal products, chemical products and refined oil products. As a result, numerous key national industrial projects have settled and formed synergies in northern Shaanxi.

Shaanxi is fast-tracking toward advanced manufacturing. The NEV and semiconductor sectors, as you mentioned earlier, are key representative industries, highlighting the new quality productive forces that we keep nurturing. Our NEV sector is experiencing robust growth momentum. We have built manufacturing bases for the battery, motor and electric control system, and have established a development pattern that focuses on passenger cars, key components and batteries. Shaanxi's NEV output has maintained an average annual growth of 160% over the past three years. In terms of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy, Shaanxi has achieved world records in three categories. The conversion efficiency of its crystalline silicon solar cell has repeatedly broken world records. Its shipments of silicon wafer, a key material in producing solar cells, and diamond wire, a key material for processing solar cells, both rank the highest around the world. In 2023, Shaanxi saw a year-on-year increase of 150% in the output of solar cells.

The province's semiconductor industry is also experiencing robust growth. Shaanxi has attracted more than 300 renowned enterprises, research facilities and institutes in the field. Its production capacity of flash memory chips accounts for nearly 15% of the world's total.

Moving forward, we will develop a group of advanced manufacturing clusters at the national level as well as provincial-level manufacturing clusters with distinctive features. We will further advance the development of a modern industrial system supported by advanced manufacturing.

In the meantime, we will focus on industries of the future, keep nurturing innovative industrial clusters with potential advantages, such as those involving photonics, artificial intelligence and superconducting materials. We will also work continuously to explore new opportunities in low-altitude economy, hydrogen power and energy storage, and biomedicine, in a bid to accelerate the development of more new quality productive forces. Thank you.