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Sep 16, 2009
Dalian - Bagalore of China
Dalian, (seen here in 2007), has become home to seven massive business parks. -- PHOTO: AFP
DALIAN (China) - ONCE a simple port city on China's northeast coast, Dalian is now the hub of the country's booming outsourcing and IT industries, with dozens of the world's top high-tech firms on site.
In little more than a decade, the city - located where the Bohai and Yellow Seas meet - has become home to seven massive business parks, spread out along 30 kilometres of rolling green hills.
About 70,000 people work here for more than 700 companies, more than half of which are foreign-owned or contain foreign capital, according to officials, who say that more than 2,000 companies could be set up here by 2013.
'Dalian has become China's number one spot for outsourcing", both in terms of call centres and management facilities, said Chuck Shi, deputy director of the high-tech zone.
The Chinese port city is following in the footsteps of Bangalore, which became India's high-tech hub and the world's back-office for outsourcing and off-shoring, with 650 foreign and domestic IT firms on the city register.
The result of Dalian's focus on IT has been that economic growth has topped the already impressive national average in recent years, and the city for the second time recently hosted the World Economic Forum's 'Summer Davos in Asia'.
'The theme of this year's meeting was the resumption of growth. We've faced up to that test pretty well. We posted 11.6 per cent growth in the first half,' said the city's Communist Party boss, Xia Deren.
The city's main high-tech complex, Dalian Software Park, is home to about 470 companies, 40 of which are on the Fortune Global 500 list.
General Electric was the first foreign company to set up shop, and others quickly followed: US computer giants such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM; Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia; and Japanese electronics firm Sony, to name a few.
In 2007, Dalian scored a major win by attracting Intel, the world's leading producer of semiconductors. The US giant has invested US$2.5 billion (S$5.2 billion) dollars in a wafer factory here - its first such facility in Asia. -- AFP
Sep 16, 2009
Dalian - Bagalore of China
Dalian, (seen here in 2007), has become home to seven massive business parks. -- PHOTO: AFP
DALIAN (China) - ONCE a simple port city on China's northeast coast, Dalian is now the hub of the country's booming outsourcing and IT industries, with dozens of the world's top high-tech firms on site.
In little more than a decade, the city - located where the Bohai and Yellow Seas meet - has become home to seven massive business parks, spread out along 30 kilometres of rolling green hills.
About 70,000 people work here for more than 700 companies, more than half of which are foreign-owned or contain foreign capital, according to officials, who say that more than 2,000 companies could be set up here by 2013.
'Dalian has become China's number one spot for outsourcing", both in terms of call centres and management facilities, said Chuck Shi, deputy director of the high-tech zone.
The Chinese port city is following in the footsteps of Bangalore, which became India's high-tech hub and the world's back-office for outsourcing and off-shoring, with 650 foreign and domestic IT firms on the city register.
The result of Dalian's focus on IT has been that economic growth has topped the already impressive national average in recent years, and the city for the second time recently hosted the World Economic Forum's 'Summer Davos in Asia'.
'The theme of this year's meeting was the resumption of growth. We've faced up to that test pretty well. We posted 11.6 per cent growth in the first half,' said the city's Communist Party boss, Xia Deren.
The city's main high-tech complex, Dalian Software Park, is home to about 470 companies, 40 of which are on the Fortune Global 500 list.
General Electric was the first foreign company to set up shop, and others quickly followed: US computer giants such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM; Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia; and Japanese electronics firm Sony, to name a few.
In 2007, Dalian scored a major win by attracting Intel, the world's leading producer of semiconductors. The US giant has invested US$2.5 billion (S$5.2 billion) dollars in a wafer factory here - its first such facility in Asia. -- AFP
