101 Ningbo companies listed as 'little giants'

A factory in Ningbo, East China, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]

One hundred and one companies from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province were recently included in the fourth batch of "little giants" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), bringing the total number of such enterprises in the city to 283.

"Little giants" refer to industry leaders that are deemed by the MIIT to have excellent innovation capabilities, large market shares, core technologies and high product quality and profitability.

In 2018, the MIIT launched the campaign to cultivate "little giants". China will strive to cultivate 10,000 "little giants" before 2025, according to the ministry.

The 101 listed companies from Ningbo are primarily involved in sectors like key basic components, new materials, integrated circuits and software.

More than half of the listed new material companies specialize in magnetic materials, a thriving sector in the city. In 2021, there were 100 earth magnetic materials enterprises above designated size in Ningbo, an increase of 14 compared with the previous year. Their industrial output value and profits hit 32.44 billion yuan ($4.99 billion) and 2.97 billion yuan, up 71 percent and 118.1 percent respectively.

Ningbo has set the goal of increasing the number of "little giants" in the city to 1,000 by the end of 2025.