Hi-tech zones account for half of revenue of China's hi-tech industry
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-07 21:25

The national hi-tech zones now account for half of the revenue of China's hi-tech industry and 65.4 percent of the nation's high-tech companies, sources with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) said in Beijing Saturday.

The national hi-tech zones constitute an important part of the national Torch Program, which aims to boost the hi-tech industry and the economy. In 2004, the high-tech zones' shares in the industrial added value of hi-tech products and the export earnings of the whole nation increased by 3.8 percentage points and 6.4 percentage points, respectively, from those for the year 2000.

MOST said among 5,482 ongoing projects of the Torch Program, a total of 1,273 were launched in the national hi-tech zones; such projects scored 200 billion yuan (about 25 billion US dollars) in sales revenue in 2004. The sales revenue of new materials amounted to 65.2 billion yuan (around 8.1 billion US dollars), ranking the first, followed by those of mechanical-electronic products, electronics and information products, bio-technology products and energy products.

Among all the hi-tech companies, joint-stock ones scored the highest sales revenue, accounting for 77.5 percent of the total.