China's first multifunctional intelligent ecological marine ranch platform by Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore opens to the public on July 10. [Photo/dzwww.com]

The coastal city of Yantai, Shandong province has made significant progress in replacing old growth drivers with new ones over the past few years, local media reported.

Accordingly, Yantai has seen rapid development in emerging industries such as marine economy, new materials, new-generation information technology, new energy, equipment manufacturing, and aerospace.

Yantai has currently cultivated nearly 2,000 industrial enterprises above a designated scale.

A notable industrial enterprise in Yantai is Wanhua Chemical, which is only the fifth company in the world to master the core production technology of MDI (Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate). The company's total production capacity of MDI is also ranked first in the world.

Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore, China's largest semisubmersible platform manufacturer, established a multifunctional intelligent ecological marine ranch platform on July 10. This platform, the first of its kind in China, will serve as a comprehensive marine ranch platform for fishing, recreation, scientific and technological research and development, and marine education.

Visitors to the platform, which can accommodate 50,000 tourists a year, can do fishing, eat seafood, enjoy the coastal scenery and watch scientific videos.

Yantai-based Linglong Tire has become a tire enterprise with the highest brand value, most complete product series and most prolific product development in China's tire industry.

Yantai Tayho Advanced Materials Co has developed into the largest R&D and production base for high-performance fiber in China.

Foxconn Technology (Yantai) Industrial Park is the largest 3C product industrial base in Shandong peninsula and the largest exporter in Shandong province.

The Yantai government has also released preferential policies to promote the development of local enterprises. Local authorities rolled out 12 measures ranging from cutting taxes to reducing rent and issuing loans to help local businesses resume operations during the epidemic.

A special fund of one billion yuan ($146.5 million) has been set up this year to support cooperation with R&D institutions and universities.