Baotou, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is to ally with an equity fund management company from Shenzhen on a graphene research and production base costing 4 billion yuan ($583 million), in order to boost the development of the graphene industry in Baotou city, reports Baotou Daily.

The base is to be settled in Baotou Rare Earth High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, the only national level high-tech zone in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, covering an area of 400 mu (26.67 hectares).

Out of the 4 billion yuan being put into the project, 1.8 billion yuan will be spent on the first phase of construction and 2.2 billion yuan will be spent on the second phase.

The construction work will begin in April and the base is expected to produce 30,000 tons of lithium ion battery graphite cathode materials annually, upon completion of the first phase of construction in the first half of 2018. The construction work for the second phase will begin in April 2019, and the base will be able to produce 40,000 tons of graphene and silicon carbon cathode materials upon completion.

Also, the base will partner with Tsinghua University, one of the top universities in China, on the production and application of graphene.