Strong industrial foundation

Shanxi has a relatively complete industrial system. Its four traditional industries, namely coal, coke, electricity and metallurgy, have obvious advantages. Emerging industries such as equipment manufacturing industry, modern coal chemical industry, new material industry, characteristic food industry, modern logistics and cultural tourism are also developing rapidly. In recent years, Shanxi has been focusing on strategic emerging industries and leading the nation in a number of key technical fields such as high-end carbon fiber, high-speed rail axle and wheelset, grapheme, silicon carbide; and focusing on the green, high-end and intelligent development of traditional industries and making new breakthroughs in a number of key technologies such as coal-to-liquids, pen-tip steel, hand-torn steel, exploration and development of coal-bed methane, etc. the high-tech industry of the whole province grew by 16 percent and strategic emerging industries grew by 14 percent in 2018.

Low comprehensive costs

Shanxi features a relatively low comprehensive cost level. Compared with coastal and surrounding areas, Shanxi presents moderate water price, low electricity and natural gas price, the lowest grade for industrial land and the lowest land transfer fee. Therefore, remarkable comparative advantage is manifested by labor costs.

Adequate talent reserves

Shanxi has built 95 key laboratories, 102 scientific research institutes, 125 engineering and technical research centers, five pilot plant test bases, 12 national science and technology cooperation bases and 39 provincial science and technology cooperation bases. The province has 15 postgraduate training centers, 80 general institutes of higher education with average scale up to 9,537 people and 11 institutions of adult higher education. In order to meet the demand of Shanxi's transformation and development and foreign investors, the whole province has 31 colleges and universities set with 343 undergraduate majors that serve the nine key strategic emerging industries of the province.