(Yicai Global) Sept. 19 -- Beijing Zhongguancun IC Design Park, a national integrated industry park for integrated circuit design, will enter operation in 2018, by which point it will have attracted a number of leading firms with international influence and innovative companies holding independent intellectual property rights with a combined annual output of around CNY25 billion (USD3.85 billion), the park's general manager, Pei Jun, said on Sept. 18.

Zhongguancun Development Group and Beijing Capital Land Ltd. [HKG:2868] created the industry park to implement the country's development strategy for integrated circuits.

The park is based at the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park in the northern part of Beijing's Haidian district. It has a total construction area of 220,000 square meters and cost CNY4.6 billion (USD707 million). It will become an international area focused on the design of circuits and chips, software applications, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and smart hardware. The park will provide resident companies with technology, finance, overseas connections, marketing, personnel training and other industrial services to promote rapid growth of IC firms.

The industry park has already attracted some well-known companies, including Gigadevice Semiconductor Beijing Inc. [SHA:603986], international memory chip designer Shanghai Zhaoxin Semiconductor Co. and domestic high-end chip solutions provider, Beijing Vion Technology Inc.

Construction began in 2016 and is set to be completed next year. It hopes to attract 150 companies including five to eight major international design firms.