During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Anhui province made a historic leap into the ranks of China's major industrial provinces. What exactly constitutes the hard power behind this "industrial powerhouse" status? The province is the birthplace of the nation's first copper smelting, first wheel and axle plant, first high-speed wire rod mill, and first large H-beam steel production line. Nearly 10% of the world's display panels, about 15% of China's home appliances, 20% of its photovoltaic modules, and 30% of its photovoltaic inverters are all "Made in Anhui"... These achievements have solidified Anhui's position in the industrial foundation, establishing a highly distinctive industrial landscape.
Championing technology at the forefront and prioritizing innovation, Anhui has been cultivating emerging and future industries, giving rise to a new "Five Pillars of Success." From a vehicle—with four key indicators of the automotive industry ranking first nationwide—to a quantum, with the quantum industry ranking second globally and first in China, to an electronic chip, with dynamic memory IC capacity leading the nation, to a robot body, with industrial robot exports ranking second nationwide, and to an AI brain, propelling the province's AI industry to fifth in national evaluations, these pillars represent a synchronized resonance of deep original innovation (from 0 to 1) and rapid industrial transformation (from 1 to 100). Within this resonance, everything flourishes, and a more resilient Anhui reaps the rewards in the fertile soil of time.
The First Pillar: A Thriving Automotive Industry
Entering the Chery New Energy Phase IV plant in Yijiang District, Wuhu, robotic arms glide with precision, producing a complete vehicle every minute on average. From January to July this year, the Chery Group exported 1.146 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 71.2%, securing its position as the top Chinese brand in passenger vehicle exports. With Chery as its flagship, Wuhu has attracted over 2,000 upstream and downstream enterprises in the automotive parts chain, forming a "half-hour supply circle" within a 5-kilometer radius—where parts requested in the morning can be delivered to the production line by afternoon.
The momentum is not confined to Wuhu; Hefei is equally dynamic. Here, six major vehicle manufacturers, including JAC, BYD, and NIO Inc., have established a strong presence. In January, NIO rolled out its 1 millionth production vehicle in the city. Recently, NIO's advanced manufacturing Xinqiao Phase II plant, which began operations less than four years ago, was recognized as a global "Lighthouse Factory." Changfeng County in Hefei, once a national-level impoverished county, now sees a new energy vehicle come off the line every 50 seconds, earning its reputation as a "billion-dollar auto county."
With this dual-engine drive, Anhui is accelerating—in the first half of this year, the province's total vehicle production reached 1.6867 million units, including 881,800 new energy vehicles, with exports hitting 1.006 million vehicles worth 104.36 billion yuan, all four metrics ranking first in the country.
The Second Pillar: The Rising Power of Quantum
As intelligent connected new energy vehicles speed ahead, quantum technology is also making leaps. On Yunfei Road in Hefei High-tech Zone, a 3.5-kilometer stretch home to over 30 leading quantum technology companies, the area has become the renowned "Quantum Avenue." This is where the world's first quantum science satellite "Micius," the first quantum secure communication backbone "Beijing-Shanghai Trunk," and the first photonic quantum computer "Jiuzhang" were born. From the academic shelf to the commercial shelf, from papers to products, the seeds of original innovation are taking root in the soil of industry.
In May this year, Benyuan Quantum, a company in the KEDA Silicon Valley area, released its fourth-generation autonomous superconducting quantum computer, "Benyuan Wukong-180," equipped with a 180-qubit superconducting chip, achieving hundred-qubit quantum computing on a single chip architecture. In July, China Telecom Quantum Group initiated internal testing of its "Q-Link" platform, built on its metropolitan quantum network, offering quantum-grade security protection to various industries through a KaaS (Key-as-a-Service) model. A single quantum initiative is now nurturing a whole ecosystem. Anhui's quantum industry has grown into a "tropical rainforest"—focusing on quantum communication, computing, and sensing, it has gathered over 100 companies, achieving the highest industrial concentration in the nation and forming a complete innovation chain from basic research to technology breakthrough, results transformation, and industrial incubation. According to the 2025 Global Future Industry Index (GFII), Hefei ranks second globally in quantum information and networks.
The Third Pillar: The Rise of Robotic Bodies
On July 30th, at the Chery International Park in Wuhu, a truck loaded with Moja Robot products departed for Wuhu Port following a dispatch command. At this point, Moja Robot's cumulative global deliveries exceeded 2,000 units, with products and services reaching over 60 countries and regions. Moja's rapid growth is backed by Chery's nearly three decades of industrial expertise. Now, its robots are widely used in automotive marketing, public space navigation, smart policing, medical guidance, and commercial receptions, earning international certifications like CE and FCC. On the banks of the Yangtze River, Moja is sailing globally, while in Hefei, robots are moving from the lab to the streets.
On August 26th, Guoxian Holdings, in partnership with Zerosquare Robot, opened four "Embodied Intelligence Robot Stores" in Hefei's commercial districts, including Lujiang and Hechai 1972. In a 15-square-meter space, Zerosquare's self-developed wheeled humanoid robot "Xiaomai" handles everything—greeting, recommending, and retrieving items, completing the entire process in as fast as 16 seconds after a voice order. Anhui's "dual-core, multi-point" industrial layout is taking shape, with over 600 enterprises in the robot supply chain, ranking fifth nationally in scale and competitiveness, and second in industrial robot exports. In the first half of this year, Anhui produced 2,665 humanoid robots, with an expected output of over 10,000 units for the full year.
The Fourth Pillar: The Emergence of an AI Brain
The embodied intelligence "running" so quickly is also due to the "brain" processing information fast. At the Suzhou High-tech Zone's computing power industrial park data center, an intelligent computing power of 3 billion billion operations per second is continuously outputted, providing efficient support for the digital transformation of local and Yangtze River Delta industries. Suzhou, often dubbed Anhui's "northern gate," has built a comprehensive computing system covering general, intelligent, and supercomputing power, with its total computing power ranking among the top three in the province last year. Turning south to Wuhu, the "Computing Cube" has become the country's first public service platform integrating five types of computing power: general, intelligent, super, quantum, and space-based.
As one of the dual-core nodes of the "East Data, West Computing" project, Wuhu's intelligent computing power reached 64,000 P by July this year, accounting for over 70% of the province's total. With a 400G direct-connect backbone network, Wuhu has established an ultra-low-latency computing circle of "3 milliseconds within the Yangtze River Delta and 15 milliseconds nationwide." Significantly, "AI+" is empowering "the growth of all things" across the province. In Hefei, "+smart cockpit" is making cars more intuitive; in Wuhu, Chery's onboard large model and Conch Cement's exclusive industrial large model have been commercialized; in Suzhou, "+smart breeding" is adding intelligence to agriculture. So far, Anhui has over 1,000 large-scale AI enterprises with annual revenue exceeding 200 billion yuan, propelling the province's industry development evaluation to fifth place nationally.
The Fifth Pillar: The Strength of the Electronic Chip
Good computing power is underpinned by solid chips. In the ultra-clean packaging workshop of Anhui Fengxin Semiconductor in the Chizhou Economic Development Zone, chips undergo precision processes like grinding, dicing, bonding, molding, testing, and sorting, transforming into high-end packaged products for AI, new energy vehicles, and 5G communications. Over more than a decade of meticulous development, this small city in southern Anhui has gathered over 130 related enterprises, with an industrial scale exceeding 30 billion yuan, becoming the province's second-largest chip packaging and testing base. In Xinzhan High-tech Zone, Hefei, the "heartbeat" is equally strong. At Nexchip's Phase IV project, technicians are commissioning equipment for a new 12-inch wafer foundry line with a monthly capacity of 55,000 wafers, a total investment of 35.5 billion yuan.
Nearby in the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Area, CXMT is deeply engaged in DRAM manufacturing, breaking the "big three" monopoly and holding a fourth-place global market share. In 2025, the integrated circuit industry output in Hefei is projected to reach approximately 151.4 billion yuan, a more than seven-fold increase from around 18 billion yuan in 2016. Bengbu, a veteran base for sensor R&D and manufacturing, has leveraged institutions like the 214 Research Institute since the 1990s to develop inertial navigation devices using MEMS technology, accumulating a solid foundation. By the end of 2025, the "China Sensor Valley" has attracted over 200 enterprises with an output value exceeding 10 billion yuan, a 29% year-on-year increase, ranking sixth among the country's top ten high-quality sensor parks.
From a quantum exploring uncharted territory to a vehicle accelerating progress, from a robotic body breaking into new tracks to an AI brain empowering all sectors, and an electronic chip underpinning hardcore manufacturing, the new "Five Pillars of Success" each stand strong. Of course, Anhui's ambitions go far beyond these—future industries like biomaterials, hydrogen and fusion energy, deep space exploration, and life sciences are also flourishing. The strategic game of this industrial powerhouse is well underway.
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