The Qingdao Artificial Intelligence Computing Center, which began construction in Laoshan district in mid-May, is the first of its kind in Shandong province and helps inject new impetus to promote local digital economic development.

This move marks both Qingdao and Laoshan district making a major step forward in the development of AI innovation, local officials said.

The center is a joint-venture project by the Laoshan district government, and tech companies Huawei and Qingdao Jiezhengzerun, with an investment of 390 million yuan ($57.9 million).

The first phase of the project will have a high central processing unit performance equivalent to that of 50,000 personal computers. It aims to establish an AI computer cluster based on AI chips and provide governments, businesses, colleges and scientific research institutions with inclusive services.

The AI industry plays a major role in Qingdao's 24 industrial chains and is a targeted arena in Laoshan's industrial development, local officials said.

In 2017, Qingdao initiated a project of building a virtual reality park, aiming to develop the city as the hub of the VR industry in China based in Laoshan district. So far, this project has been put high on the agenda of the city's upgrading and construction in the next three years.

The park is expected to be completed in 2023 and will help form a new industrial layout with its peer－the microelectronics industrial park in Qingdao.

In the future, Laoshan district will attract more VR supporting businesses, focusing on the new-generation of information technology, and improve its intelligent industry so as to contribute to Qingdao's development of emerging industries and become a highland for the VR industry.

Apart from the intelligent industry, Qingdao is also seeing a rapid development in the transportation network.

On May 20, the Laixi-Rongcheng High-Speed Railway officially opened. With a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the railway passes seven stations and runs through the 1,089-meter-long Caohua mountain tunnel.

The railway is another major project in Laixi, a county-level city in Qingdao.

It will help boost the socioeconomic and tourism development in Laxi and play a role in the city's construction of a modern high-speed railway network.

As a coastal city, Qingdao has also ramped up efforts to upgrade and construct its port area for international cruises.

The port area has begun an engineering project regarding the construction of an underground section.

Huang Lei, director of the project management department at Qingdao Huanhaiwan development and construction, said it must dig out a total of 1.35 million cubic meters of earth, with 450,000 cu m completed thus far.

It is expected to begin underground construction in the next half of this year.

liangkaiyan@chinadaily.cm.cn