Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone is located in Anhui province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone (Hefei high-tech zone) is one of the first national high-tech industrial zones ratified by the State Council in 1991. It is located in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province.

The zone is home to China Speech Valley, the first national-level artificial intelligence industrial park, and is known as the Quantum Center for its pioneering quantum technology industry. It is also home to most of the high-tech businesses in Anhui.

Hefei high-tech zone has maintained a leading position among the country's 169 national high-tech industrial zones, ranking sixth in 2019, which is its highest ranking in its history.

When it was founded in 1991, the zone encompassed 2.2 square kilometers, but it has subsequently expanded due to years of development. Hefei high-tech zone took a 51-sq-km piece of land in the west into trust in 2021, bringing its total area to 179 sq km.

According to official figures from the zone, its GDP topped 130 billion yuan ($19.17 billion) in 2022.

In total, more than 50,000 businesses have been set up in the zone. The zone is now home to nearly 2,000 national high-tech enterprises.