Entrepreneurs find ideal home for their startups

Jinli is a must-see place in Chengdu that offers local flavor and an array of classic architecture. The area is a prime example of the city's easy-going lifestyle, a key reason investors choose to work in the Sichuan capital. Zou Hong / China Daily

Li Chaoyang, founder of Solorein Technology Inc Zou Hong / China Daily

For Li Chaoyang, the timing of his decision to start a company could not have been better, the founder of a high-tech company in Chengdu said.

Li founded Solorein Technology Inc in 2005 just as development was starting to take off in the Sichuan capital.

After working in Silicon Valley for nine years, he came to Chengdu to start a company that provides products and solutions related to optical communication, such as fiber-optics-to-home technology, commonly known as FTTH .

"Research in the field in Silicon Valley is at the forefront of countries around the world, so my work experience there has allowed me to foresee the industrial trend in the coming years," Li told said.

The Chinese market in the field was in its infancy at the time, and its huge potential attracted Li to return, he noted.

Li predicts that FTTH research and development in China will be flourishing for at least 20 years and will reach a market scale of nearly 3 trillion yuan ($488.7 billion).

Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Miao Wei, also said the broadband speed in China's coastal areas is expected to reach 100 megabits per second, 20 M bit/sec in inland areas and 4 M bit/sec in rural areas by 2015 through continual innovation and technical research.

Li also said that China's bandwidth traffic per capita is still "very low" compared to the rest of the world and called for more investment from the central government.

Li said Solorein mainly focuses on the production of chips used for optical communication.

"We can produce about 300,000 chips a month, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of the market share in China," Li said.

Most of the chips satisfy the increasing domestic demand, and only 10 to 20 percent are exported, he noted.

Its major clients include China Unicom and China Telecom.

In addition, the company also has China's first high-tech production line for wafers, the company's top product, with a total investment of 200 million yuan.

"The wafer production line covers all the production processes and is also equipped with a real-time earthquake-monitoring system that can automatically cut off all the power to protect against the leakage of toxic chemicals when an earthquake hits" Li said.

Solorein now has three invention patents and three utility model patents.

With nearly 600 employees, the company is expected to achieve sales turnover of up to 3 billion yuan in 2015, he added.

"Chengdu is my hometown, and this is an important reason for me to choose it to start a business," Li noted.

He said the company was first registered in Zigong, a small city in the province, and it moved to Shuangliu county a year later.

"Among China's 100 strongest counties in economy, Shuangliu is pursuing new economic growth from emerging industries, such as alternative energy and high-tech industry in addition to its traditional mainstay of logistics," he said.

The local government has provided some financial and policy support, such as reduced taxes and preferential rates for leasing land, which is another attraction that has drawn him to the provincial capital, Li said.

The city's large pool of human resources is the third reason, he said.

"Chengdu government has carried out a project in these past few years to introduce talented people from abroad and other cities in China, which has contributed a lot to its abundant human resources," Li explained.

And, its lower cost of living and improved infrastructure have also enticed some of the locals working in other cities to return, he noted.

However, "more efforts are still needed to further strengthen the talent aggregation and improve the overall quality", Li added.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn