"Little-known" Hefei welcomes the massive return of migrant workers.
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"Should I return to Hefei?" In the summer of 2022, Chen Fan was stuck outside during a business trip, which made her have the idea of leaving Shanghai for the first time. She noticed that an industrial cluster called "University of Science and Technology of China Silicon Valley" officially started construction in her hometown Hefei in June of the same year.
In the impression of many Internet workers in big cities who consider Hefei as their hometown, "Enterprises named after 'University of Science and Technology of China' seem to have good profits". Some people also know the star project "Artificial Sun" in the industrial cluster, and that the surrounding industrial supporting facilities are mostly developed around concepts such as clean energy.
The changes in the hometown are happening quietly. By 2023, Hefei has added 5 new subway lines, and the density of viaducts and expressways has increased. The interviewee, Xiao Hu, told "Workplace Bonus" that he returned to Hefei that year, and he didn't encounter a red light on the 20-kilometer expressway from the company to his home.
In 2024, the interviewee Chen Fan also returned to Hefei. Although she said, "Hefei is a city with no opportunities but full of challenges", and she often saw situations where people were recruited as salespeople under the guise of looking for designers and marketing managers, she still felt that there were more and better job opportunities in Hefei than before.
For some people who are tired of the intense competition in the big cities in the Yangtze River Delta, going from a big city to Hefei is "the most correct choice".
When did Hefei become a haven for those who are away from home, and how did it transform from a small city where "everyone has to make a sales call before leaving" to a quasi-first-tier city with abundant opportunities now?
From a small city to a trillion-yuan "quasi-first-tier" city: The road of counterattack ╱ 01
Investment-driven: Industrial investment miracle and hard technology ecosystem ╱ 02
The R & D positions are saturated, while the manufacturing positions are in high demand. How does Hefei "recruit people"? ╱ 03
The distress of being in a "makeshift team" ╱ 04
From a small city to a trillion-yuan "quasi-first-tier" city: The road of counterattack
It seems that Hefei only took 14 years to increase its GDP from 100 billion to 1 trillion yuan. But in fact, Hefei has been on the road to prosperity for many years.
In 1949, when Hefei was peacefully liberated, the city was still small in scale with a weak industrial foundation, with only more than 20 small processing factories and handicraft workshops. Three years later, Hefei was officially established as the provincial capital of Anhui Province. In 1953, Hefei established the overall strategic concept of "transforming a consumption-oriented city into a production-oriented city". 56 enterprises in Shanghai were relocated to Hefei, and Hefei began to establish its own industrial system.
However, Hefei, which lacks innate endowments, cannot develop rapidly according to the concept.
This city once gave people the impression of "extreme poverty". This is because of its geographical conditions. Anhui Province is located in the eastern geographical center of China, adjacent to the Yangtze River. The seemingly superior geographical location has two sides: It is surrounded by big cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, and Suzhou. When it has not yet developed, Hefei easily loses its presence in the eyes of talents.
Fortunately, Hefei doesn't believe in fate.
Establishing a science and education base, joining the Yangtze River Delta, and building an innovation platform - several crucial choices have laid the foundation for its development.
In 1970, the University of Science and Technology of China was relocated to Hefei.
In 1999, Hefei was identified as one of the four major science and education bases in the country.
In 2001, Hefei became a member city of the World Technopolis Association.
In 2003, the former Hefei Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics were merged into the Hefei Institute of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The science and education base has brought rich talents, scientific research investment, and significant experimental results to the city. Nowadays, Hefei has international influence in fields such as quantum communication, quantum computing, and intelligent voice. Scientific research achievements such as the "Mozi" quantum satellite, as the world's first quantum science experimental satellite, have attracted global attention.
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In 2016, Hefei joined the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration. In 2018, nine cities including Songjiang District of Shanghai, Jiaxing City, Hangzhou City, Jinhua City, Suzhou City, Huzhou City, Xuancheng City, Wuhu City, and Hefei City signed the "Strategic Cooperation Agreement for Joint Construction and Sharing of the G60 Science and Innovation Corridor". Hefei was able to catch the express train of urban development.
Today, the Yangtze River Delta region has gathered one-tenth of the high-tech enterprises in the country and more than one-fifth of the listed companies on the STAR Market.
In June 2022, the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government started the construction of the University of Science and Technology of China Silicon Valley. "University of Science and Technology of China" refers to the University of Science and Technology of China, and "Silicon Valley" draws on the concept of the Silicon Valley in the United States, symbolizing a high-tech industrial park and an innovation cluster. More than two years after the start of construction, the guiding fund of the University of Science and Technology of China Silicon Valley has increased to 5 billion yuan, and the main investment directions are artificial intelligence, new materials, and new energy and other high-tech industries.
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Ample funds have provided a fertile growth environment for high-tech industries. The University of Science and Technology of China Silicon Valley encourages "early and small investments", so most of the companies in the high-tech zone are start-ups. In the two years since the start of construction, the high-tech zone of the University of Science and Technology of China Silicon Valley has accumulated 1,978 technology-based enterprises and technology innovation service institutions, including 217 national high-tech enterprises.
The settlement of enterprises has brought more job opportunities, and Hefei has therefore attracted more innovative and entrepreneurial talents. In 2024, 3,562 new high-level talents at the municipal level and 71 overseas talents were added in the high-tech zone of the University of Science and Technology of China Silicon Valley [1]. In 2024, Hefei newly identified more than 7,200 high-level talents [2].
[1] [2] Data sources: Reports from China News Network and Chuanguan News
Investment-driven: Industrial investment miracle and hard technology ecosystem
How did Hefei begin to win the favor of enterprises? Everything starts from 2007.
In 2007, the LCD panel market was oversupplied, the liquid crystal panel market was in a downturn, and the 5th-generation production line was at the end of the industry. These three major problems together crushed BOE, an enterprise whose main business is display screens.
One year later, at the moment of BOE's survival, the Hefei Municipal Government made a bold decision. It took one-third of the fiscal revenue of that year to introduce BOE, which had a loss of more than 1 billion yuan at that time, and jointly invested 17.5 billion yuan to build the first 6th-generation liquid crystal panel production line in China.
It should be noted that the fiscal revenue of Hefei in 2007 was only 21.519 billion yuan. At that time, in order to make this huge investment, the Hefei government even had to suspend the subway project to raise funds.
Fortunately, Hefei made the right bet.
After BOE settled in Hefei, it not only solved the problem of display screen supply for color TV enterprises, ending the situation where China's large-size liquid crystal panels were completely dependent on imports, but also attracted more than 100 upstream and downstream supporting enterprises in substrate glass, polarizer, and module.
From the 6th-generation production line for small and medium-sized panels to the 8.5th-generation production line for medium and large-sized liquid crystal panels, BOE built China's first metal oxide liquid crystal panel production line. By the time the "world's highest-generation line", BOE's 10.5th-generation line, was put into production, BOE's total investment in Hefei had exceeded 100 billion yuan.
Since then, the Hefei government, which has tasted the sweetness, has been making rapid progress on the road of "investment-driven" [3].
The idea of Hefei is: It not only invests in enterprises, but also invests in industries.
In 2011, it invested in Changxin Memory and GigaDevice in the semiconductor field. After Changxin Memory went public, Hefei made a profit of more than 100 billion yuan. Moreover, this investment also led semiconductor enterprises to settle in Hefei, helping Hefei to transform into a semiconductor city.
In 2020, Hefei once again took out 10 billion yuan to invest in NIO, which was in financial difficulties, catching the trend of new energy vehicles.
After the headquarters of NIO was located in Hefei, this investment not only helped NIO get through difficulties, but also made an electric vehicle industry chain with a production value of hundreds of billions looming. The beautiful vision of turning Anhui into a new electric vehicle center in China is gradually becoming a reality. In June 2022, the BYD Auto base was completed and put into operation in Changfeng County, Hefei City.
In Hefei's previous investment choices, electronic information technology, semiconductors, and new energy have become the three pillar industries of the city, and Hefei is still moving forward and looking for new ways out.
New industries such as low-altitude economy are emerging. On October 18, 2023, the Hefei Municipal Government plans to provide EHang Intelligent Technology with a total support of 100 million US dollars. The East China headquarters of EHang Intelligent Technology has been built in Hefei Luogang Park. Zero Gravity, which also belongs to the low-altitude economy field, has completed five rounds of financing, and Hefei High-Tech Investment led its nearly 100 million yuan Series A financing. As of November 2024, there are 161 existing enterprises in the low-altitude economy in Hefei [4]. The initial form of an integrated industrial chain development pattern has taken shape.
Investors in the industry told "Workplace Bonus" that it has become the norm for state-owned enterprises or government-related investment funds to act as GPs (Fund Managers). Leaving aside the limited partnership model, state-owned capital can directly connect with the invested enterprises, "which is more convenient to negotiate conditions with the invested companies".
The return investment requirements of the Anhui Provincial Mother Fund are at a medium to low level, which is conducive to attracting enterprises. Investment means return. Different from general funds, what state-owned capital requires is not the return of funds, but the "return investment" of enterprises [5].
The return investment is for the healthy development of the local industry, and the ratio is generally 1:1.5. "However, in some places like Haidian and Yizhuang in Beijing, it reaches 1:2. A high ratio of return investment will inevitably cause hesitation for enterprises." On the contrary, through researching the investment conditions of several representative mother funds in Anhui Province, the Mother Fund Research Center found that the return investment requirements of the Anhui Provincial Mother Fund are not high, generally around 1 to 1.5 times, and most are 1.2 times.
At the same time, whether there is a related industrial chain in the local area is also an important criterion for enterprises to evaluate state-owned capital. "If there is no industrial chain at all, everything has to start from scratch, and enterprises may not be willing."
So what exactly did Hefei do right?
Compared with some cities that only provide land, factories, etc., Hefei gives real money, which is conducive to retaining enterprises and talents. The success of BOE, Changxin Memory, and NIO is the best proof - the investment has also quickly brought returns to Hefei. The number of listed companies has increased. Since 2022, 12 new ones have been added, ranking second in the increment among new first-tier cities, and many are involved in emerging industries such as semiconductors, showing strong strength.
After achieving success with the investment-driven approach, Hefei has intensified its efforts to build the brand of a "venture capital city".
Luoyunfeng, the mayor of Hefei, once gave a set of data: In 2023, by accelerating the construction of a "venture capital city" and iterating the "investment-driven" approach, Hefei has accumulated nearly 1,000 industrial projects and a contractual investment of more than 500 billion yuan. Nowadays, Hefei invests more in "strategic emerging industries", provides strong support when companies encounter difficulties, holds them for a long time, and exits profitably after the companies grow [6].
Not only is the investment doing well, but the government is also "from a manager to a service provider". Wang Pan, a hard technology investor, told "Workplace Bonus" that the Hefei government will organize enterprises to charter buses for docking and explore new cooperation paths.
The "Mayor's Breakfast Meeting", a characteristic communication and exchange mechanism, is also one of the measures of the Hefei government as a "service provider": Every Friday, the managers of Hefei will receive a group of visiting entrepreneurs, and negotiate through having breakfast together to see what they can cooperate on.
[3] Investment-driven: "Investment-driven" is a new model of attracting investment. Its core is to use the leading role of government investment funds or state-owned capital to drive social capital to serve local investment attraction through direct investment or participation in investment funds, forming a joint force for industrial cultivation.
[4] Data source: "2024 Hefei Low-Altitude Economy Industry Development Report" released on December 18, 2024
[5] Return investment: It means that after an enterprise receives investment, it makes an investment in the local area. The most common way of return investment is