The Hi-tech Zone in Taicang, a county-level city in Suzhou, Jiangsu province generated more than 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) in 2018, Taicang Daily reported on Dec 29.

The zone's industrial output saw an increase of 6 percent from a total output of 94 billion yuan in 2017.

“Such an achievement should be attributed to its high-end manufacturing industry and industrial upgrading,” said a spokesman for the management committee of the Taicang Hi-tech Zone.

Of the 100 billion yuan worth of industrial output, the high-end manufacturing companies, especially the auto parts manufacturing companies, contributed 84.5 billion yuan.

To date, the hi-tech zone has housed more than 100 various auto parts suppliers with products covering automobile power systems, air conditioning systems, and interiors and exteriors systems. A complete and competitive subdivided auto industrial chain has been formed in the zone.

To launch new products satisfying the requirements of electrification and lightweight design has become the target of the zone's auto part manufacturers' industrial upgrading.

Auto-Kabel Harness (Taicang) Co Ltd has ramped up its research and production of wire harnesses for new energy vehicle in recent years, so that they now account for 30 to 40 percent of the company's products.

The newly-operated factory of United Automotive Electronic Systems Co, Ltd in Taicang mainly produces electric motors, electric axies and power modules for new energy vehicles.

The Taicang zone also gathers numerous manufacturers of high-end numerical control machines, medical devices, and special purpose equipment, including German-based Trumpf, one of the world's biggest providers of machine tools, and Wirtgen Group, manufacturer of machinery for road construction and maintenance.