China's Two Software Competitors

The Tianhe Science and Technology Park in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province in south China has become a strong competitor to Zhongguancun in Beijing, known as China's Silicon Valley.

There are 318 software companies in Tianhe, which started operations in January last year. Their software sales reached 2 billion yuan in 1999, second only to Zhongguancun.

Tianhe is also the largest wholesale market of electronic products in the province with the transaction in 1999 worth 16.8 billion yuan, accounting for 12 percent of the country's total. Guangzhou's software industry is booming at an annual growth rate of 47.2 percent. In 1998 the industry earned 2.6 billion yuan in output value. Software has been listed as a major high-tech export product in the province.

China's silicon valley plans to earn 110 billion yuan (over 13 billion U.S. dollars) this year to realize a targeted growth rate of 30 percent.

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