The total annual income of Beijing's Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park is expected to hit 366 billion yuan (US$44 billion) by 2008, the greatest of all of China's 53 high-tech zones.

Industrial added value will reach over 90 billion yuan (US$11 billion) by the year Beijing hosts the Olympic Games, according to the "Blue Paper of High-tech Industry Development for the Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park in 2004."

The paper was the first ever published review of the high-tech industry's development in China, as well as an overall summary and analysis over the development of Zhongguancun, China's "silicon valley."

The paper was drafted by the Haidian district government and the Administrative Committee of the Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park.

Yu Jun, deputy head of the district government and vice-director of Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park announced that, as of November, the income of the park continued to be the highest of all of China's 53 high-tech zones.

The information industry will continue to be the dominant sector in Zhongguancun, according to Yu.

In terms of computer production, the park will continue to be the country's biggest gathering place of domestic brands, according to Yu.

Notebook PCs (personal computers) will be given priority in Zhongguancun's PC production.

Meanwhile, the output of desktop computers will also increase.

Yu believed that Lenovo's recent purchase of IBM's PC division will have a positive impact on computer production at the park.

Located in the park, Lenovo is China's largest PC maker.

"The science park will also continue to be the major research base for computer sciences," he said.

In terms of software, the science park will continue to be the biggest software research and production centre in the country, according to Yu.

The official vowed that the science park will become an important software export base.

The export volume of software products at the science park reached US$80 million last year, 4 per cent of the total national software export volume.

Progress is expected in the coming years in the development of other information industries and the material, biological medicine and energy-saving equipment industries in the park, according to Yu.

Zhongguancun is the most influential high-tech zone in China, according to Zhang Zhihong, vice-director of the Torch High-Tech Industry Development Centre with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

(China Daily January 6, 2005)