The Hefei National High-tech Industrial Development Zone. [Photo/WeChat account: hefeigaoxinfabu]

Artificial intelligence is one of the pillar industries in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone. In the China Speech Valley, China's first AI-oriented industrial park at the national level located in the zone, AI companies account for about 70% of both the numbers and the total value of all enterprises.

As of 2023, about 1,500 AI companies had settled in the zone, and some big names among them include iFlytek, a public company and one of China's leading AI and intelligent speech companies, and Huami Corp, a U.S.-listed maker of smart wearables.

In the Hefei Advanced Computing Center of Hefei high-tech zone, there is a 10-meter-tall blue glass cube. This is a supercomputer named "Chaohu Mingyue."The supercomputer consists of more than 1,500 servers capable of running 12 petaflops (12 quadrillion floating-point operations per second).

Based on the "Chaohu Mingyue" supercomputer, the zone established the Hefei AI Computing Center, aiming to lay a solid foundation for research and development of AI large models. The new center also carried out strategic cooperation with major enterprises in the key industrial chains, such as integrated circuits, new energy vehicles, and AI, helping to solve the application problems in scientific research and education, intelligent manufacturing, and other industries.

By the end of July, the "Chaohu Mingyue" supercomputer had served more than 600 institutes and enterprises, and supported more than 3,000 academic research projects.

iFlytek's AI industrial base is located at the China Speech Valley. [Photo/WeChat account: hefeigaoxinfabu]

Large models are growing rapidly with various kinds of functions and use scenarios. Currently, a "1+N+X" large model system has been formed in the high-tech zone, with iFlytek Spark large model as its core and a series of industrial large models such as Atomic Echo and Guochuang Nebula also showcasing their merits.

In recent years, the high-tech zone has given full play to alliances, associations, and think tanks, and fostered connections between projects and resources, attracting a range of high-quality projects. To woo more investments, the zone has also improved its resource integration capability, shored up its weaknesses, as well as expanded its industrial chain. 

So far, the intelligent speech companies in the zone have launched 36 large industry models, serving multiple sectors like industrial internet, new energy vehicles, and law enforcement.

In order to improve data governance, the zone has also set up the Big Data Supporting Platform of the China Speech Valley, an intelligent governance platform for the AI industry. The platform has gathered about 1,500 intelligent speech enterprises, containing information collection, AI industrial and technological map, innovation chain integration, digital investment, policy support and other functions. 

Thanks to years of efforts, the zone has nurtured clusters of new-generation AI technology, covering general intelligence, brain-like intelligence, brain-computer interface, virtual reality, and digital traceability. There are over 60 core AI enterprises in the zone with a core industry value of some 30 billion yuan.

Looking forward, the zone will further promote integrated development of AI industries like intelligent voice technology, and speed up transformation and upgrading of China Speech Valley, so as to boost high-quality development and enhance the brand of China Speech Valley.