This economic region with a GDP of 360 billion in Chengdu aims to become "even better and stronger".

Strive to create a strong start and take actions to achieve results at the beginning.

During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse, in the first week after the holiday, the 2026 work conference of Chengdu High - tech Zone was held, proposing that in the first year of the 15th Five - Year Plan, it will adhere to the principle of "being brave first and taking actions resolutely", and strive to present a better and stronger Chengdu High - tech Zone to the whole society, sending a strong signal of "seizing the opportunity at the start and sprinting from the very beginning".

As one of the first batch of national high - tech zones in China, one of the first batch of pilot parks for "building a world - class high - tech park", and the first national independent innovation demonstration zone in the western region, Chengdu High - tech Zone has achieved historical leaps in economic scale and development level, innovation source and achievement transformation, industrial level and ecological position, and people's livelihood guarantee and urban quality in the past five years. It can be said that it has handed in a "high - value" answer sheet:

It promoted the GDP to a new level of over 360 billion yuan with an average annual growth of 22 billion yuan; it took the lead in establishing the largest industrial fund group in new and development zones in the central and western regions; industrial landmarks such as the "World Soft Valley", "Tianfu Long Island", and "Future Wing Valley" are rising rapidly; the import and export scale and performance evaluation of Chengdu High - tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone both rank among the top in the country...

On such a high starting point, how to make further progress? What does a "better and stronger" Chengdu High - tech Zone mean for Chengdu and Sichuan?

01

The main engine takes on great responsibilities

From the global popularity of the movie Nezha 2 last year to the "longest screen made in Chengdu High - tech Zone shining at the World Games", and then to the national popularity of the New Year's Eve countdown event in 2026... In recent years, there have been continuous highlights in Chengdu High - tech Zone.

These provide representative examples of the "creativity" of the district. When it comes to the importance of Chengdu High - tech Zone in the city and the province, a more concrete understanding can be obtained from a series of data.

In 2025, the GDP of Chengdu High - tech Zone reached 366.15 billion yuan. Although it is not an administrative district, this scale is still the undisputed "number one district in the province" in Sichuan, a large economic province. If compared among the 21 cities and prefectures in Sichuan, it can easily rank among the top four.

That is to say, just looking at the GDP, Chengdu High - tech Zone is equivalent to the "fourth largest city" in Sichuan.

What better reflects this status is its structural contribution to the economic map of the province and the city.

In 2025, the total foreign trade import and export volume of Chengdu High - tech Zone was 550.8 billion yuan, accounting for 53.4% of the province and 64.8% of the city respectively. This means that for every two yuan of imported and exported goods in the province, one yuan flows through Chengdu High - tech Zone.

In addition, the import and export scale and performance evaluation of Chengdu High - tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone both rank among the top in the country. Against the background of increasing internal and external uncertainties, such performance not only interprets the "ballast stone" status of Chengdu High - tech Zone in foreign trade but also directly proves the resilience of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Looking at the industry again. In 2025, the total scale of strategic emerging industries in Chengdu High - tech Zone reached 247.83 billion yuan, and the total scale of future industries was 8.13 billion yuan, accounting for 28% and 23% of the province respectively. That is to say, for every four yuan of emerging industry output value in the province, more than one yuan is produced in Chengdu High - tech Zone.

In addition, with only 0.05‰ of the provincial area, Chengdu High - tech Zone also contributes a quarter of the listed companies, a quarter of the national specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises, and one - tenth of the tax revenue in the province.

These data together point to a fact: Chengdu High - tech Zone is the well - deserved "ballast stone" and "main engine" of the city and the province. It is precisely because of this prominent scale and contribution that it is necessary to shoulder new missions at the beginning and make greater contributions in serving the overall situation.

02

From scale support to innovation leadership

Of course, the role of the "ballast stone" is not only about scale but also about level. It is not only reflected in the "past" but also needs to lead the "future".

The recently released "Suggestions on the 15th Five - Year Plan of Chengdu" (hereinafter referred to as the "Suggestions") ranks "building an innovative Chengdu full of vitality" first among the main goals of Chengdu's economic and social development during the 15th Five - Year Plan period.

It clearly states that the overall efficiency of the innovation system will continue to be enhanced, the modern industrial system will take shape, the proportion of high - tech manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, and the core industries of the digital economy will continue to increase, and major breakthroughs will be made in developing new productive forces.

As a national high - tech zone, against the background of the accelerating evolution of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, Chengdu High - tech Zone will undoubtedly play a more important role in these aspects. And this is also its advantage.

In terms of innovation resources, currently, Chengdu High - tech Zone has a total of 70 national - level innovation platforms; it has gathered more than 850,000 talents of various kinds, including more than 2,300 high - level talents at the national, provincial, and municipal levels.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Chengdu High - tech Zone also took the lead in establishing the Pilot Innovation Collaboration Network of National High - tech Zones, further consolidating the foundation for the transformation of "innovation ability" into "industrial ability". At present, it has successfully cultivated landmark products such as the "Skywalker 2" humanoid robot.

From the perspective of industrial layout, at the "First Meeting of the Spring Festival" in Chengdu, promoting the high - quality development of key industrial chains was identified as the annual focus. Since the revenue of high - tech industries in Chengdu High - tech Zone ranks fourth in the country, only after Zhongguancun in Beijing, Shenzhen High - tech Zone, and Zhangjiang in Shanghai, it naturally has to shoulder the "major responsibility" in "building industrial clusters and strengthening industrial chains".

In 2025, 8 new - type R & D institutions in Chengdu High - tech Zone added 172 original advanced technological achievements and 48 landmark products, and incubated 59 enterprises; the world's first space computing satellite constellation was successfully launched; the first domestic passenger - carrying eVTOL product rolled off the production line; the first robot park in the western region was opened...

These achievements are being transformed into future industrial competitiveness, consolidating the key anchor points for the high - quality development of the region.

Taking artificial intelligence as an example, as the core area for Sichuan Province and Chengdu City to build a national artificial intelligence innovation application pilot zone and a national new - generation artificial intelligence innovation and development experimental zone, Chengdu High - tech Zone is accelerating its layout. In 2025, it introduced the artificial intelligence enterprise service headquarters of Ant Group with a total investment of 3 billion yuan, and 3 enterprises such as Kola Youran were shortlisted for the top 100 AI enterprises by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Next, Chengdu High - tech Zone will continue to deepen the "artificial intelligence +" initiative, accelerate the development of the Zhuge Space with unique features and full of enterprises, promote the high - quality development of the artificial intelligence and robot industries, and help Chengdu build a national - level artificial intelligence industry high - ground.

Enterprises are the main body of innovation. The innovation vitality of a region depends to a large extent on the concentration of enterprises.

Currently, the number of national high - tech enterprises gathered in Chengdu High - tech Zone accounts for one - third of the city, and there are 152 national specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises, accounting for as high as 41% of the city. In 2025, 48,600 new enterprises were added in the whole district, a year - on - year increase of 7.9%, and the number of existing enterprises reached 274,100, a year - on - year increase of 11.0%.

This means that in the new development stage, Chengdu High - tech Zone not only needs to continue to play the role of a "ballast stone" but also needs to achieve an upgrade from scale support to innovation leadership.

When these innovation inputs and ecosystems are gradually transformed into real productivity in the next few years, the importance of Chengdu High - tech Zone will not only be to help stabilize the overall situation but also to lead the provincial industries to climb up the value chain and continuously enhance the competitiveness of Chengdu and Sichuan in the country.

In recent years, from the national to the local level, it has been clearly encouraged that large economic provinces and cities "shoulder major responsibilities".

The "Suggestions" also clearly state that it is necessary to promote the strong leadership of new urban areas, focus on playing a leading role in innovation source, integration of science and industry, institutional innovation, and green development, and build a new high - ground for development with stronger innovation and creativity.

In this regard, Chengdu High - tech Zone, as a "ballast stone", can be said to have set a positive example and will continue to play a greater role.

03

"Seven key breakthroughs" to help move towards "better and stronger"

So, how to specifically achieve the leap from scale support to innovation leadership?

At this work conference, Chengdu High - tech Zone identified seven key breakthrough directions:

Make breakthroughs in strengthening support to fully serve the overall national strategy; make breakthroughs in expanding domestic demand to enhance the stability of economic development; make breakthroughs in optimizing the structure to improve the level of the modern industrial system; make breakthroughs in increasing impetus to activate a new engine for high - quality development; make breakthroughs in optimizing the enterprise echelon to expand the main force of enterprise development; make breakthroughs in strengthening the carrying capacity to expand new intensive and efficient spaces; make breakthroughs in people's livelihood and social undertakings to create a new background of a happy and livable area.

Analyzing these seven tasks in combination with the "Suggestions", it can be found that this is actually a very complete closed - loop logic - the strategic height determines the position, the industrial depth determines the level, and the urban temperature determines whether people stay.

The three support each other and jointly point to the goal of "better and stronger".

First level: Strategic height, resonating with the national strategy.

"Strengthening support" corresponds to serving the overall national strategy. The "Suggestions" clearly state that it is necessary to "courageously shoulder the heavy responsibility of a large economic city". As the "main engine", Chengdu High - tech Zone naturally has to take the lead in serving the overall situation. This is both a mission and an opportunity.

"Expanding domestic demand" corresponds to stabilizing economic growth. Currently, expanding domestic demand has risen to a strategic measure, and the driving force of consumption for economic growth is constantly increasing.

In the new year, Chengdu High - tech Zone will boost consumption, dig deep into the potential of demand, cultivate new consumption growth points, strive to build a consumption environment loved by young people, adhere to the consumption expansion strategy led by scenario creation, and improve the gradient development pattern of business districts. This will further enhance the support for the stable growth and enhanced resilience of the economy.

Second level: Industrial depth, climbing up the value chain.

The core of "optimizing the structure" is to improve the level of the modern industrial system.

The "Suggestions" clearly state that it is necessary to "build a modern industrial system with modern service industries as the main body and advanced manufacturing as the backbone", implement the "integration of industrial clusters and chains" project, and cultivate national - level advanced manufacturing clusters.

Under this goal, Chengdu High - tech Zone will continue to improve the "3 + 6+ 6" modern industrial system - consolidate the three characteristic and advantageous industries of electronic information, medicine and health, and digital economy, expand strategic emerging industries, and make breakthroughs in future industries.

The core of "increasing impetus" is to activate a new engine for high - quality development.

The 15th Five - Year Plan period is a critical period for kinetic energy transformation. The "Suggestions" emphasize "strengthening the leading role of scientific and technological innovation in developing new productive forces", and specifically point out the need to "accelerate the construction of concept verification and pilot verification platforms" and "develop new - type R & D institutions oriented towards achievement transformation". The "pilot +" ecosystem that Chengdu High - tech Zone is vigorously promoting exactly echoes this.

The core of the "optimization of the enterprise echelon" breakthrough is to expand the main force of enterprises. The conference particularly emphasized "serving the development of enterprises in a classified and hierarchical manner", combining internal cultivation and external introduction, and