Ningxia seeks tech-driven high-quality development

The Ningxia Hui autonomous region will continue to attract projects with advanced technology and low energy consumption in order to promote high-quality development and innovation, said the region's top official.

Ningxia has made significant strides in high-quality development in recent years, nurturing new quality productive forces while fostering development impetus, said Liang Yanshun, Party secretary of the region.

Liang said the instructions of President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, are the road map and guidelines for Ningxia and have given strong impetus to the region's opening-up and development.

Xi has placed high hopes on Ningxia's development and called on the region to better coordinate development and security, he said.

According to Liang, Ningxia has been one of the country's leading regions in terms of growth for seven consecutive quarters, with its GDP growing 6.6 percent year-on-year in 2023. Meanwhile, the region's energy consumption decreased 9.6 percent year-on-year.

The growth of high-end manufacturing in Ningxia also accelerated last year, with the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry increasing 44.5 percent. Tax revenue from high-end equipment manufacturing surged 57 percent.

As the only national-level hub for computing power networks, Ningxia ranks first in the country on the "environmental index" of computing power resources. This year, Ningxia is expected to fully promote its development as the country's "computing power capital", with the added value of its digital economy to account for over 36 percent of the region's GDP.

With an average annual temperature of 8.8 C and average wind speed of 3.5 to 3.6 meters per second, Ningxia has long been recognized as the capital of computing power in Northwest China, as its conditions are considered ideal for building naturally wind-cooled data centers.

Amazon Web Services, for example, chose to build its data center in Ningxia after visiting numerous areas across China.

The region plans to build 330,000 standard racks, which are steel and electronic frameworks designed to house servers, by 2025, and the number is expected to increase to 700,000 by 2027.

Ningxia has also been accelerating construction of a green energy system, said Liang. The region, which has the nation's largest reserves of silica, has been actively promoting the development of its new materials industry in recent years, he added.

Liang said that the regional investment in research and development grew 12.7 percent last year, and Ningxia is committed to implementing more industrial innovation and converting more of its R&D achievements into new products and industries.

Ningxia will continue to prioritize environmental protection and integrate the protection and management of natural resources including mountains, rivers, forests, lakes, grasslands and deserts, he added.