A recent investment of 61 billion yuan ($9.64 billion) from Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics contractor, has cast the spotlight on Zengcheng district of Guangzhou.

Located in the eastern part of the capital of Guangdong province, Zengcheng is much closer to the neighboring city of Dongguan than the business center of Guangzhou, but it is becoming a new investment hotspot.

Official figures show that a total of 94 projects introduced by the local government were signed in 2017, with total contractual funding of more than 63.4 billion yuan.

The annual earnings or output of 29 of the projects are forecast to reach at least 1 billion yuan each.

"Compared with 2016, our projects made remarkable quality improvements, which is critically important for the continued healthy development of the district," said Zhao Guosheng, executive deputy chief of Zengcheng. He said that the district government has been in talks with at least 143 high-quality projects, which are expected to pour additional funds of 150 billion yuan into the district in the coming years, further boosting the local economy. Two key clusters

According to Zhao, two powerful industrial clusters — expected to generate output of over 100 billion yuan each — have taken shape in Zengcheng, one focused on new generation of information technology and the other on automotive and auto parts manufacturing.

Foxconn's vast investment strategy called SIO new-generation panel display industry was agreed at the end of 2016 and construction launched last March. The plan involves building the world's largest 8k-resolution panel factory and ultimately turning Guangdong into a world-leading manufacturing and research center for the industry.

When it is put into operation in the second half of 2019, the factory will be able to produce 92 billion yuan in industrial output annually, said Su Yanhua, director of bureau of commerce of Zengcheng district.

“More significantly, Foxconn's project will attract its suppliers from across the globe, including many top 500 transnational companies, to settle in Zengcheng,” Su noted.

To attract these heavyweight companies, Su's department has set up a database to record the key information of more than 170 such suppliers, including their main business, core technologies, current investment in China and their business relations with Foxconn in China.

After conducting initial assessments, the department carefully selected about 40 companies from Foxconn's supply chain, including Air Products, Corning, Toray and Daifuku, and offered them incentive policies and tailor-made government services, said Su.

As a result, Corning decided to invest about 2 billion yuan to build a new plant for display devices in Zengcheng at the end of last year.

The picturesque view of Zengcheng, in the eastern part of Guangdong province. [Wu Guming/for China Daily]

Investment in the automotive and auto parts manufacturing cluster is also on the rise, Su said.

In October 2017, China Automotive Technology and Research Center, a State-owned industry leader, started construction on its South China headquarters in Zengcheng. One month later, Hitachi Automotive Electric Motor Systems, a joint venture between Hitachi and Honda specializing in the manufacturing and research of motors for new-energy vehicles, set up its first overseas branch in the district.

These two new projects, with contractual investments of 1.85 billion yuan and 3 billion yuan, respectively, added glamor to the existing strong auto and auto parts manufacturing industry in the district. The area has built a complete supply chain composed of two vehicle manufacturing plants and at least 150 auto parts and research companies.

With a good natural environment, Zengcheng is an ideal place to live.[Wu Guming/for China Daily]

"Guangzhou is a well-established vehicle manufacturing center of China. In addition, the new energy auto market has high potential," said Namatame Haruo, president of Hitachi Automotive Electric Motor Systems (Guangzhou) Ltd. "Our parent company Hitachi Automotive System has invested in Zengcheng and set up good connections with the district. That's why we are here," he told reporters. Diversified interest

Apart from the two industrial clusters, the district has also placed emphasis on attracting companies in the sectors of modern services, regional headquarters, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, new energy, and new materials, big data, modern agriculture and eco-tourism, said Su of the district's commerce department.

For example, Zengcheng introduced 16 regional headquarters projects in 2017, ranging from the low-carbon industry and financial technology to innovation services.

Total investment in the district is projected to reach about 22 billion yuan, surging 742 percent year-on-year, according to government figures.

"Our economy has much room to develop and growth will be substantial in the coming years,"said executive deputy chief Zhao. He said the district's development plan is designed to create an eastern gateway for Guangzhou to connect to the surrounding cities in the Pearl River Delta, such as Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou."Located at the center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and as a key stop along the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, Zengcheng is at its prime development stage and clearly a good choice for investment,"Zhao said.

Workers assemble cars at a production line of BAIC Group in Zengcheng. [Wu Guming/for China Daily]