The Laixi government and Zhejiang Carbon One Group recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement for a new energy project worth 6 billion yuan ($862.2 million), and it will be launched in Laixi, a county-level city in Qingdao, Shandong province.

Zhejiang Carbon One Group signs strategic cooperation agreement for a new energy project in Laixi. [Photo/Qingdao News]

Around 10 graphite new material related projects, involving graphite deep processing, high-end anode and silicon material production, spherical graphite production and a research institute will be built in Laixi, according to the agreement.

The estimated annual output value is about 12 billion yuan after the projects are put into operation.

With the largest graphite new material industrial cluster in China, Laixi is the birthplace of China's graphite industry, a place where technology is exported, and where standards are formulated. It is known as the "hometown of China's graphite".

As a basic raw material for industrial development, graphite is widely used in traditional industries and strategic emerging industries, and has great potential and broad prospects.

The Nanshu Graphite Industrial Park in Laixi is one of the 26 strategic emerging industry characteristic parks of Qingdao during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20).

A total of 33 graphite new materials enterprises have settled in the park, creating a somewhat comprehensive industrial chain with their high value-added products such natural modified graphite, high-purity flake graphite, and lithium anode materials. From January to July this year, the output value of graphite new material industry in Nanshu reached 2.08 billion yuan, up 50.47 percent year-on-year.