The core sectors for the digital economy in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, generated 11.32 billion yuan ($1.75 billion) in industrial value-added in 2020, up 29.4 percent from the previous year, according to local media reports.

The sectors' growth rate was the highest among all Zhejiang cities last year.

A centerpiece of Jinhua's efforts to develop its digital economy, particularly its core sector of photoelectricity, was the introduction of HC Semitek Co, a leading supplier of light-emitting diode (LED) chips, into Yiwu, a county-level city administered by Jinhua, in 2016.

The company invested 6 billion yuan to establish a production base for LED chips, LED epitaxial wafers, and sapphire products in Yiwu in 2016. Two years later, the company added a 10.8-billion-yuan investment to manufacture advanced semiconductor products in the same locality. 

The Yiwu plant now boasts the largest production volume of LED chips among all such factories in Asia.

"The decision to invest in Yiwu was a turning point for our company. Our improved R&D abilities materialized in the Yiwu plant, plus the increasing demand for mini LED products have helped us secure our second-place position in the global market," said Hu Jianyong, a top executive of HC Semitek Zhejiang Co.

The Yiwu plant started the mass production of mini LED chips as early as 2018, becoming one of the three manufacturers in the world capable of doing so. In addition, it has been expanding into other upstream and downstream areas for semiconductor devices.

"We have research centers employing doctorate degree holders and academicians, while our institute for third-generation semiconductor materials and devices is rated a provincial-level key laboratory," said Hu. "We have pretty strong independent R&D abilities and have been consistently improving our products to firmly seize the global market."

"Before the end of this year, the complete series of HC products will be made in Yiwu, while another 20-plus doctorate degree holders will be recruited here," Hu added.

Encouraged by HC's success, a number of leading LED companies, such as Refond, Forest Lighting, and Risen Energy, have subsequently established plants in Yiwu, making it the first Chinese city with a complete LED industrial chain.