China plans to invest a total of 13.8 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in the Zhongguancun AI Science Park, a national technology park dedicated to developing the artificial intelligent industry, it was announced on Jan 2.

Miao Jun, president of Zhongguancun Jingxi Construction Co Ltd, the developer of the park, a company of Zhongguancun Development Group, said that the new AI park will be located in the suburban Mentougou district of western Beijing, will cover 54.87 hectares, and be completed in five years.

The park is expected to attract about 400 enterprises, with an estimated annual output value of about 50 billion yuan (about $7.7 billion).

Focus will be put on high-tech fields including super high-speed big data, cloud computing, biometric identification and deep learning. The park's technological infrastructure includes a fifth generation mobile network, a super computer and cloud services.

The planning sketch of the Zhongguancun AI Science Park [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Cooperation between worldwide renowned universities, science research institutes and leading companies on building various research centers in the park including a national AI laboratory, a research academy and a technology platform is expected.

The first phase of project construction with an investment of two billion yuan should be finished by the end of 2018.

Zhongguancun is home to China's biggest and most powerful AI innovation power group. Official statistics show that there're currently 250 artificial intelligence enterprises with over 7,800 patents in Zhongguancun, both ranking first in China. Additionally, 42.9 percent of China's AI entrepreneurial enterprises are also from Zhongguancun.

By 2020, Zhongguancun is expected to form an AI super group that will encourage international competitiveness. For instance, many frontier technological achievements and AI international standards are expected to take shape in the next three years.

A visitor communicates with a robot in Zhongguancun Exhibition Center. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]