Jiangsu ranked first among province-level regions in China in multiple indicators of manufacturing strengths, such as the value-added, quality growth and the number of national advanced manufacturing clusters, according to the press conference on building a modern industrial system held by the provincial government on August 8.

In the first half of the year, the value added of Jiangsu's industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 8.3% year-on-year, higher than the national average.

Xu Jun, deputy director of the province's Department of Industry and Information Technology, said Jiangsu has essentially built an industrial system featuring strong foundation and integrated categories that cover 31 sectors.

In addition, the added value of the manufacturing industry accounted for 37.3% of the province's GDP, highest in the country, and the annual revenue of five industries - machinery, electronics, light industry, metallurgy and petrochemicals - exceeded the threshold of one trillion yuan.

Jiangsu's manufacturing industry ranked first in the high-quality development index for three years in a row, with the latest index value of 91.9. The province is also home to 10 out of China's 45 national advanced manufacturing clusters, marking the highest concentration nationwide. Jiangsu also led the nation in the scale of integrated circuits, shipbuilding and offshore engineering, construction machinery and other niche markets.

In addition, the output value of strategic emerging industries and high-tech industries accounted for 41.1% and 49.6% of the total by industrial enterprises above the designated size. Jiangsu is also home to 15% of China’s leading technologies and 20% of China's high-tech exports.

For eight consecutive years, Jiangsu led the country in terms of integrated development of IT application and industrialization. The province's output value of core industries in the digital economy accounted for 11% of the regional GDP.