Wuxi has become the most competitive city for the development of the integrated circuit (IC) industry in East China's Jiangsu province, Yicai reported Aug 11.

The eastern Chinese city came fourth in the national rankings, following Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province.

Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province ranked fifth and Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province came in sixth. They were followed by Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province, Hefei in East China's Anhui province, and Nanjing and Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province.

Wuxi has been considered the most developed city in Jiangsu's IC industry, with its total output value in 2019 surging 8.3 percent year-on-year to reach 117.8 billion yuan ($16.6 billion), the second highest in China.

Heavy investments by leading enterprises such as Huahong Group and SK Hynix contributed greatly to the rapid growth of Wuxi's IC sector. In May, the world's largest photolithography supplier, ASML Holding, signed a deal to expand its technical service base in Wuxi National Hi-tech District.

Wuxi also signed an agreement Aug 5 to cooperate with Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute to build the Jiangsu Integrated Circuit Application Technology Innovation Center in Xishan district.

The center is positioned to build the first independent and controllable industrial computer chip supply chain in China. It will build at least three IC application test platforms. The project will also incubate 30 chip design companies, introduce and gather 100 companies in the industry chain and cultivate three listed companies.

China's IC industry's sales reached 756.23 billion yuan in 2019, up 15.8 percent year-on-year, although the global semiconductor market declined 12.1 percent year-on-year last year, according to data from China Semiconductor Industry Association.