The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently launched the first batch of pilot projects for the development of the industrial chain and supply chain ecosystem. Baotou and 12 other cities, including Hangzhou, Wuhan and Shenzhen, were officially identified as pilot cities.

Pilot cities will promote the iterative upgrading of the regional industrial supply chain ecosystem and form an ecological development pattern of coordinated cooperation among leading enterprises, supporting enterprises, universities, research institutes, third-party platforms, and financial institutions.

In recent years, Baotou's rare earth industry has formed a strong foundation for development and has attracted a number of enterprises involved in the industry. It has gathered primary chain enterprises and a large number of key supporting enterprises, gradually moving from the primary stage of raw materials and rough processing to the stage of high-quality development of new materials and terminal applications.

Additionally, the city has formed a large number of rare earth application products with independent intellectual property rights. The local conversion rate of rare earth raw materials has increased from less than 40 percent originally to about 80 percent today. It has strong regional driving capacity and industrial influence.

After being selected as a pilot city, Baotou will rely on its rare earth resources to build a rare earth new material industry hub with strong innovation capacity and well-known brands.