Staff Reporter |
Editor | Wen Shuqi
Around 11 or 12 in the evening, in a cramped little room in Hefei—just over 70 square meters—a group of people were glued to a fluorescent screen. Then, a tiny spot of light, smaller than a grain of rice, suddenly flickered on.
“We were exhausted, barely keeping our eyes open. But in that instant, everyone snapped wide awake,” recalls Fang Xiaowei, general manager of Hefei Guojing Instrument Technology Co., Ltd., talking to our reporter about that night.
Behind that tiny flicker of light was a high-end microscopic inspection device that had long been monopolized by overseas companies. In 2023, Fang and several alumni from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) packed up and returned to Hefei from different corners of the globe to tackle this technology head-on. No fancy offices, no mature supply chain. At the very start, all they had was a group of old classmates, a bold idea, and a technology they truly believed they could pull off.
A little over a year later, the team unveiled China’s first domestically developed cold-field emission electron microscope prototype and launched the world’s first benchtop model. For Fang, the real thrill wasn’t just “getting the light to fire”—it was the day that beam finally captured images customers actually needed.
“When our technological edge finally translates into real commercial value, that’s a moment of pure pride. It also gives us the confidence to keep pushing forward,” Fang says.
How long is the road from a beam of light the size of a rice grain to a technology that customers are actually willing to pay for? The answer might be hiding in Anhui’s increasingly dense network of laboratories, companies, industrial parks, and real-world applications.
In early August, our reporter joined the “Field Study of China’s Vitality” team on a journey through Anhui—from Hefei to Lu’an and then Bengbu. From quantum tech and deep-space exploration to brain-computer interfaces and advanced manufacturing, a wave of technologies that once lived only in labs is now desperately searching for a path to commercialization.
These seemingly scattered stories all point to one big question: When the “future industry” hasn’t fully arrived yet, how does a city prepare the soil for it in advance?
One City, 107 Quantum Enterprises
In Hefei, quantum technology has a rather vivid “industry coordinate.”
Starting from the Quantum Information Industry Base in Hefei High-tech Zone, a stretch of road about 3.5 kilometers long is lined with quantum-related companies and research institutions. What’s even more jaw-dropping? Hefei has nurtured and gathered 107 companies along the quantum industry chain, with industry revenue surpassing 6 billion yuan.
A cutting-edge technology that used to exist almost exclusively in laboratories is now forming a full-fledged industrial cluster in a single city. According to the 2025 Global Future Industries Index Report, Hefei’s quantum industry has ranked second globally for three consecutive years—right behind San Francisco.
So why Hefei?
The answer didn’t just appear in the last few years. Hefei’s quantum industry is more like a “cold bench” that people sat on for decades—and today, it’s finally starting to pay off.
On this map, USTC is an unavoidable landmark. Decades ago, Hefei began building deep connections with the university. Since then, a cohort of scientists has spent years researching quantum information here, with their breakthroughs continuously spilling out of the lab and into industry.
In 2003, China’s first quantum computing research group was established at USTC. In 2009, Pan Jianwei’s team founded QuantumCTek, the predecessor of the country’s first quantum-tech commercialization enterprise. Later, Du Jiangfeng co-founded CIQTEK (Guoyi Quantum), while Guo Guangcan and Guo Guoping launched Origin Quantum.
Several different technological routes grew out of the same research soil. QuantumCTek, Origin Quantum, and CIQTEK focus on quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum precision measurement, respectively—widely known in the industry as the “Three Musketeers of Quantum.” Today, QuantumCTek and CIQTEK are already listed on the STAR Market, and Origin Quantum is pushing toward an IPO.
Researchers develop the tech, young people turn it into companies, capital sticks around through the long commercialization cycle, and then those companies head to the capital markets. That’s one of the key pathways through which Hefei’s quantum industry keeps “growing new businesses.”
But what exactly does the quantum industry actually do?
If you break “quantum industry” down, it’s not a single sector. It encompasses at least quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum precision measurement—each with its own direction.
Among these, quantum computing is the one that most easily captures the public’s imagination.
Wang Guyue, director of the Project Management Center at Hefei Big Data Asset Operation Co., Ltd., gave our reporter a vivid analogy: “Think of it like navigating a maze. Classical computing hits an intersection and has to try each path one by one. Quantum computing, on the other hand, splits into multiple versions of itself instantly—it only needs to explore once to find the shortest route. The efficiency gain is massive.”
To give an even more extreme example: factoring an extraordinarily large number might take classical computing tens of thousands of years, whereas quantum computing—under the right algorithms and conditions—could compress that down to seconds.
Quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum precision measurement—these three phrases may sound light-years away from everyday life, but in Hefei, they’ve already formed a complete industrial prototype. Quantum communication is already being used for information security. Quantum precision measurement is entering scientific instruments and industrial inspection. And quantum computing is moving from lab prototypes toward real-world applications.
According to official Hefei government data, the city is home to the world’s first integrated space-to-ground quantum communication network and the first intercity three-node quantum entanglement network. The “Zu Chongzhi 3.0” processor has set a world record for quantum computational advantage in superconducting systems, and the “Tianyan-504” is the superconducting quantum computer with the highest number of qubits on a single chip in China.
The real shift, though, is happening at the application end.
In the past, quantum technology was mostly a scientist’s game. Now, companies are being forced to answer a far more pragmatic question: After the breakthrough, who’s actually going to use this?
Hefei is currently building public computing infrastructure that fuses quantum computing with classical computing. Earlier this year, the Hefei Quantum-Classical Fusion Computing Center went online. Leveraging the “Chaohu Mingyue” supercomputer, it deploys both superconducting quantum computing and trapped-ion quantum computing resources, while also integrating quantum processors with classical CPUs and GPUs.
Wang Guyue told our reporter that quantum computing isn’t meant to replace classical supercomputing—it’s designed to complement it, alongside intelligent computing. “If quantum computing is ever going to become practical, it has to evolve hand-in-hand with classical computing at this stage.”
So far, the center has opened its doors to JAC Motors, iFlytek, and local universities and research institutes, exploring applications in areas like artificial intelligence and new materials R&D.
Quantum security technology is also being applied across government services, finance, healthcare, and energy. For instance, mobile government办公, mobile banking, remote medical consultations, and energy security monitoring can all leverage quantum tech to beef up data security. China Telecom Quantum Group has already rolled out more than 100 industry solutions, serving over 5,000 enterprise clients—turning quantum technology from a “black tech” curiosity into a genuine “tool on the production line.”
This means the competition in the quantum industry is shifting from “who has the higher technical specs” to “who can find the real application scenarios.”
Qiao Guanjun, a member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Hefei Science and Technology Bureau, told our reporter that Hefei’s next step is to push quantum technology from “taking root” to “blossoming and bearing fruit.” The city is currently implementing Anhui Province’s “Thousand Scenarios” initiative for quantum information, prioritizing landmark application scenarios that include the livelihood sector.
Giving “Science Drifters” a Place to Call Home
When a technology leaves the lab, the hardest part often isn’t “can we build it?”—it’s “what do we do with it once it’s built?”
Scientists are great at solving technical problems, but they’re not necessarily familiar with finding office space, raising capital, hiring teams, or navigating sales and marketing. Companies know what the market needs, but they don’t always know about the un-commercialized technologies sitting in university labs. Between the two, there’s a pretty significant gap.
In Hefei, that gap is being filled—bit by bit—by a special group of people and institutions.
In 2024, Anhui introduced the concept of “Ke Piao” for the first time. Wu Dan, assistant president of the Silicon Valley Campus of USTC (Keda Silicon Valley), explains that “Ke Piao” isn’t just a geographic label. It refers to innovative talents who “drift” into Anhui—whether from overseas, other provinces, or straight out of universities—bringing with them scientific achievements and entrepreneurial dreams.
“Shanghai has ‘Hu Piao’ (Shanghai drifters). Calling someone in Hefei a ‘Fei Piao’ just sounds weird,” Wu Dan laughs. So “Ke Piao”—science drifters—became the new name Anhui coined for this group of tech entrepreneurs.
This group includes overseas returnees, researchers transitioning from academia to industry, and serial entrepreneurs. What Keda Silicon Valley does is try to lower the barrier to “landing” as much as possible.
“We want them to experience first, decide later,” Wu Dan told our reporter. Keda Silicon Valley has set up “Ke Piao Hostels” offering 15 days of free accommodation and office space for entrepreneurs arriving in Hefei. Once they decide to stay, they can access rental subsidies, office space, and policy consulting services.
“When you add it all up, an entrepreneur coming to Hefei can basically have their office and housing costs covered for the first year and a half.”
For those who actually dive into entrepreneurship, though, finding a workspace is just the first hurdle.
In 2023, Fang Xiaowei and several USTC alumni returned to Hefei from overseas to tackle high-end microscopic inspection instruments. In the early days, aside from the technology itself, the team was “flying blind” when it came to office space, market access, and funding. Keda Silicon Valley matched them with facilities, connected them to application scenarios, and invested 5 million yuan through its direct investment fund, helping them close a 30 million yuan angel round.
Fang told our reporter that a major reason the team ultimately chose Hefei was the hard-tech entrepreneurship ecosystem that spans talent, resources, and industry demand. For them, the real challenge wasn’t the technology itself—it was figuring out how to make lab-born tech pass the test of real customer scrutiny.
This is a transition many research founders have to make: having advanced technology is just the starting line. Getting customers to open their wallets is where commercialization truly begins.
Guojing Instrument is living through this right now. The company has started making small deliveries of its products and is continuously refining them through customer sample testing. Fang admits that domestic high-end instruments still need time to build brand recognition and a deeper understanding of customer applications. But he predicts that over the next three to five years, the pace at which university intellectual resources convert into high-end instrument industrialization will accelerate even further.
And this “Ke Piao” ecosystem isn’t just happening in Hefei.
Down in Lu’an, a domestic substitution effort targeting another “bottleneck” technology is picking up speed. For years, gallium nitride (GaN) laser chips have been dominated by a handful of international players like Japan’s Nichia and Germany’s Osram, leaving China’s downstream applications almost entirely reliant on imports.
In August 2023, Gen Semiconductor became the first company in China to achieve mass production of GaN laser chips, filling a critical gap in the domestic industry. “We pushed the chip’s electro-optical conversion efficiency from 35% to over 42%,” company director Cao Ling told our reporter. Those few percentage points represent hundreds of rounds of tackling crystal defects, thermal resistance, and cavity surface failure.
From “bottleneck” technology to domestically produced product, Gen Semiconductor’s growth has also been buoyed by sustained local government support.
When the project first landed, Lu’an set up a dedicated service task force to help the company sort out construction and equipment transportation issues. A company executive said they had scouted locations in Hefei, Xiamen, and Shanghai before ultimately choosing Lu’an—largely because the local government “placed exceptional importance” on the project and the services and industrial conditions were a good match.
During the pandemic, when equipment shipments were blocked, Lu’an coordinated cross-regional logistics and even had staff waiting at highway exits to escort the equipment in. “With the Anhui government, if you ask for help, they truly respond to every request.”
With that kind of support, Gen Semiconductor went from signing the contract to starting production in just 10 months.
From Keda Silicon Valley in Hefei to cities like Lu’an, Anhui is extending its support for tech talent beyond just “attracting them in” to “keeping them here and helping them grow.” So far, Keda Silicon Valley has drawn in more than 70,000 innovators and entrepreneurs, and built a service system that spans “Ke Piao Hostels—Ke Piao Academy—Ke Piao Community.”
For Anhui, the ultimate goal of “Ke Piao” isn’t just about how many talented people show up. It’s about whether, once they’re here, they can turn an idea into a company and a technology into an industry.
When the Wind Comes, the Industry Is Already Rooted Here
Not every technology gets to commercialization that fast. Some already have clear customers and orders. Some are still hunting for their first application scenario. And some are playing a much longer game.
Deep-space exploration falls into that last category.
In early August, our reporter walked into the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory in Hefei. Inside, researchers are studying technologies like in-situ lunar soil utilization and lunar surface construction. Compared to quantum technology and high-end instruments that are already entering the industrial chain, these technologies are clearly much further from ordinary people’s daily lives.
But that doesn’t mean it has no industrial value. Globally, the deep-space economy is on the verge of explosion. According to projections from relevant institutions, the global deep-space economy will surpass $1 trillion by 2040. As a key pillar of that economy, the deep-space industry is poised for significant new growth.
Domestic industrialization is also accelerating. With the full launch of the crewed lunar landing project and the planned construction of the International Lunar Research Station, deep-space exploration is evolving from a purely scientific mission into an industrial chain spanning equipment manufacturing, materials, energy, communications, robotics, and more.
For Hefei, this isn’t an industry direction that appeared out of nowhere.
As of now, Hefei is home to more than 170 commercial aerospace companies and institutions, with the industry chain scale surpassing 10 billion yuan. In 2025, the aerospace information industry in Hefei High-tech Zone reached 12 billion yuan, up 33% year-over-year. Based on current growth rates, it’s projected to exceed 30 billion yuan by around 2028, moving toward a 100-billion-yuan “aerospace ecosystem.”
Hefei’s approach remains consistent: leveraging its technological and scientific research strengths.
If the quantum industry has already proven that “scientific research can grow into an industry,” then deep-space exploration is about answering a different question: When the industry hasn’t fully formed yet, is a city willing to build the capabilities in advance?
That’s exactly the question researchers at the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory are grappling with.
In their in-situ lunar soil utilization research, scientists are trying to use local lunar resources to produce materials and build infrastructure. The lab’s earlier work on 3D printing with lunar soil is aimed at reducing future deep-space missions’ dependence on supplies transported from Earth.
This type of technology has a unique characteristic: it’s not going to find a market as quickly as a consumer electronics product. But in the deep-space environment, many technologies that look like “no market” today could become absolutely essential once future missions actually kick off.
Wei Guangfei, from the Planetary Science Research Center at the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, told our reporter that today’s competition in deep-space exploration is no longer just about “who completes a mission first.” It’s shifting from “mission competition” to “capability competition.”
In his view, what will truly determine competitiveness in the future is whether a nation or region can continuously propose major scientific questions, break through key core technologies, support major engineering projects, and—on that foundation—develop an autonomous, self-iterating capacity for innovation.
“At the end of the day, it’s about strengthening independent innovation capabilities, enhancing the ability to continuously execute major deep-space missions, and seizing the initiative for future development,” Wei says.
This also explains why deep-space exploration requires early布局. For companies, the market tends to dictate what you invest in today. But for a city, planning for future industries can’t just be about whether there are orders right now.
From a beam of light the size of a grain of rice, to 107 quantum companies, to asteroid defense technologies that don’t have orders yet—Anhui is essentially doing the same thing across all of it: making sure technology doesn’t stay stuck in the lab.
Some technologies need a “tech matchmaker” to connect researchers with space, capital, and customers. Some need an industrial chain and application scenarios to prove themselves in the market. And some don’t even have a market yet—but still need to be planned ahead of time, waiting for the industry window to open.
This is precisely what makes “future industries” so difficult. You can’t just wait for the market to mature before acting, and you can’t just keep circling inside the lab either.
From Hefei to Lu’an and beyond, a conversion mechanism centered on talent, technology, capital, scenarios, and industry is gradually taking shape across Anhui.
For Anhui, the real competition isn’t about chasing any single “trend” or “hot wind.” It’s about getting the talent in place, building the technology, and preparing the scenarios before the next wave of industry actually arrives.
By the time the wind comes, the industry will already be rooted here.
