A commencement ceremony for 111 projects is held in Tai'an. [Photo/Dazhong News]

A total of 111 projects with a total investment of 56.9 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year commenced construction in Xintai, a county-level city in Tai'an, on Feb 26.

All the projects with the exception of one are new industrial projects with a total investment of 56.4 billion yuan. In 2024, an investment of 23.06 billion yuan is expected to be allocated.

For example, an electronic-grade silane project, which commenced at the main venue in Xintai, has a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan. It will produce high-purity electronic-grade silane and a series of products including ethyl silane, which has never been produced in the country before, addressing a bottleneck in electronic special gas for China's semiconductor industry.

Relying on this project, Xintai will expand its circular economy industrial park to establish a 100-hectare silicon material industrial park. Several key projects will be implemented along the industrial chain, with the aim of building a billion-level industrial cluster within five years.