hefei.be

Hefei 合肥 · capital of Anhui province

The city that
invests like
a venture capitalist

Twenty years ago, hardly anyone knew Hefei. Today no Chinese city builds more electric cars. NIO, iFlytek, Sungrow, JAC and BOE are based here, along with one of China’s best technical universities. On hefei.be you’ll find the city, its companies and the partners who show you the way.

Explore 100 companies in the company directoryWatch the film about Hefei (10 min)

Skyline on Swan Lake (天鹅湖) · photo 钉钉, CC BY-SA 4.0

10 million
residents: the city passed the ten million mark in 2024
¥1.42 trillion
GDP in 2025 (approx. $198 bn), 6.1% growth
1.37 million
electric and plug-in hybrid cars built in 2025, more than in any other Chinese city
97 → 19
rank among Chinese cities, from 1995 to today
4.11%
of GDP goes to research and development
60%
of industry is in strategic emerging sectors

Sources: Hefei Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Hefei Municipal Government, Anhui Provincial Government. As of October 2026, rounded.

The city

From provincial town
to tech city

Hefei lies in eastern China, between the Yangtze and the Huai. The character 合 means ‘to flow together’: the city takes its name from the rivers that meet here. It is the capital of Anhui province and has more than ten million residents.

For a long time Hefei was a modest provincial town. That changed in 1970, when the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) moved here from Beijing. A generation of engineers and entrepreneurs grew up around the university. After 2008 the city began to invest directly in factories for displays, chips and electric cars. In thirty years Hefei climbed from 97th to 19th place in the ranking of Chinese cities.

For a European company, Hefei is attractive because everything is close together: six carmakers and their suppliers, research labs, a world-class university and a city government that makes decisions quickly.

Province
Anhui 安徽, eastern China
Population
approx. 10 million
Getting there
approx. 2 to 3 hours by high-speed train from Shanghai or Hangzhou
University
USTC, in Hefei since 1970
Former name
Luzhou 庐州
Swan Lake (天鹅湖), the new city centre
Swan Lake (天鹅湖), the new city centre · photo Kuroiotoko, CC BY-SA 4.0

Economy · the Hefei model

The city as
venture capitalist

Hefei had no port, little industry and few foreign investors. So the city government started investing itself. It used public money to take stakes in companies it wanted to bring to Hefei. When those companies grew, it sold part of its shares and reinvested the proceeds. In China this is known as the Hefei model (合肥模式).

Hefei doesn’t do venture capital, it does industrial investment. It doesn’t gamble. It builds.

Yu Aihua, Hefei’s Party Secretary at the time

Hefei’s GDP, in billion yuan

More than 1,000 times larger than in 1978

1.319785.8199037200027020101,00520201,4212025
Nominal and rounded · Hefei Statistics Bureau, NBS
  1. 2008BOE

    The city invests billions in a BOE display factory and even postpones building its metro to do so. Two more BOE plants follow, including the world’s first Gen 10.5 line.

  2. 2016CXMT

    The city pays for 80% of a new memory chip factory. In 2026 CXMT goes public in the most valuable Chinese IPO of the year.

  3. 2020NIO

    In the middle of a crisis, investors from Hefei and Anhui put ¥7 billion on the table for the struggling carmaker. The condition: its headquarters moves to Hefei.

  4. 2020Volkswagen

    Volkswagen invests over €2 billion in Hefei: 75% of VW Anhui, half of JAC’s parent holding and a quarter of battery maker Gotion.

  5. 2022USTC Silicon Valley

    The same approach, applied further upstream at the lab stage. Province, city and university build an innovation valley for start-ups.

Four pillars: 车芯屏脑

This is how Hefei sums up its industry: cars, chips, screens and ‘the brain’, artificial intelligence.

车

Cars

1.37 million electric and plug-in hybrid cars in 2025. JAC, BYD, NIO, Volkswagen, Changan and Ankai all build in Hefei; batteries, chips and parts are an hour’s drive away.

芯

Chips

Home-grown memory chips from CXMT (长鑫存储), listed since 2026, with the city as its largest shareholder.

屏

Screens

BOE built the world’s first Gen 10.5 factory in Hefei. One in four screens worldwide comes from a BOE factory.

脑

AI

Speech and language AI from iFlytek (¥27.1 bn revenue in 2025), which grew out of USTC. A whole ‘speech valley’ has grown up around the company.

And the next wave

Energy

Sungrow (阳光电源) makes inverters and battery storage parks: ¥89 billion revenue in 2025, six in every ten yuan of it earned abroad.

Nuclear fusion

In January 2025 the experimental EAST reactor, the ‘artificial sun’, kept plasma stable for 1,066 seconds: a world record. Its successor, BEST, is due to be ready at the end of 2027.

Quantum

USTC built the Zuchongzhi 3.0 quantum computer (105 qubits); Origin Quantum builds the Wukong series. Pan Jianwei of USTC led the project behind the first quantum satellite.

Companies

Six names
to know

Six of the hundred companies in our company directory, each with an extended profile and a film. You choose the language for each film: Dutch, English or Chinese (iFlytek in Dutch only for now).

Premium electric cars with a swappable battery

NIO蔚来

2014founded; headquartered in Hefei since 2020
1.26 millioncars delivered (end of August 2026)
4,000+battery swap stations in China

In 2019 NIO was on the brink of bankruptcy. The city of Hefei stepped in, the headquarters moved and in January 2026 the millionth NIO rolled off the line. A robotic station swaps a flat battery in three to four minutes; customers can also rent the battery separately from the car. Three brands: NIO (premium), ONVO (family) and firefly (city).

Europe and Belgium

In Belgium, Hedin has distributed the cars since 2025, with a swap station in Edegem. The firefly starts at €29,990.

View the full profile

Narrated in English, Chinese subtitles · 4:34 min

Carmaker since 1964, partner of Volkswagen and Huawei

JAC Motors江淮汽车

384,000vehicles sold in 2025
200,000+exported, to some 130 countries
¥46.5 bnrevenue in 2025 (approx. €5.6 bn)

JAC started as a truck factory and is now a state-owned company of Anhui province. It built the first NIOs and is Volkswagen’s partner in the VW Anhui joint venture. With Huawei, JAC builds the luxury brand Maextro (尊界): Huawei supplies the software and cockpit, JAC the chassis and production, in a factory with more than 3,000 robots.

Europe and Belgium

The Cupra Tavascan you see on Belgian roads comes from the VW Anhui factory in Hefei.

View the full profile

Narrated in English, Chinese subtitles · 5:36 min

Speech AI and translation, born at the university

iFlytek科大讯飞

1999founded by a USTC team led by Liu Qingfeng
¥27.1 bnrevenue in 2025
130+languages in its own Spark language model

iFlytek taught machines to listen and speak. Today it builds its own language model, Spark (星火), trained on Chinese chips, and products such as AI glasses, e-ink notepads and translation devices. Education is its largest customer, followed by healthcare, cars and government.

Europe and Belgium

European headquarters in Budapest. For European partners, the GDPR and the AI Act matter, as does the fact that iFlytek has been on the US Entity List since 2019.

View the full profile

Narrated in Dutch, Dutch subtitles · 4:50 min

Inverters and battery storage for solar and wind

Sungrow阳光电源

1997founded by lecturer Cao Renxian
¥89.2 bnrevenue in 2025 (+15%)
No. 1in inverters worldwide, shared with Huawei

What began in two small rooms next to a bathhouse is today one of the world’s largest suppliers of inverters and battery systems. Storage is now its biggest source of revenue. To prove its safety, Sungrow set fire to 20 MWh of its own batteries: the fire did not spread to the neighbouring units.

Europe and Belgium

In Belgium, Sungrow supplied 320 battery containers for Engie’s battery park in Vilvoorde (200 MW / 800 MWh). European headquarters in Munich, first European factory in Poland.

View the full profile

Narrated in English, Chinese subtitles · 5:09 min

An innovation valley around the university

USTC Silicon Valley科大硅谷

2022launched by Anhui province
2,500+new tech companies
¥250 bnin more than 200 funds

Strictly speaking, this is not a company. It is a network of buildings, funds and services across Hefei, set up by the province, the city and the university. The aim: keep USTC talent in Hefei and bring research to market faster. iFlytek, QuantumCTek, CIQTEK and Origin Quantum all grew out of USTC.

Europe and Belgium

The valley has liaison offices abroad, including one in Paris, and is looking for European partners for research, pilots and start-ups.

View the full profile

Narrated in English, Chinese subtitles · 5:26 min

The world’s largest display maker

BOE京东方

36.2%of large LCD panels worldwide
¥204.6 bnrevenue in 2025
Gen 10.5world’s first factory, in Hefei

You probably look at a BOE screen every day, but the logo is rarely on it. BOE supplies panels to brands such as Apple, Huawei, ASUS and Acer. In 2008 Hefei landed its first factory: the start of the Hefei model.

Group

Headquartered in Beijing, with three large display factories in Hefei.

View the full profile

BOE
BOE · foto N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0

Also in Hefei

Volkswagen Anhui, BYD, Changan, CXMT (memory chips), Gotion High-Tech (batteries), Origin Quantum and QuantumCTek (quantum), CIQTEK (scientific instruments) and the research centre of the EAST fusion reactor.

Go to the full company directory: 100 companies and institutions

Figures from annual reports and company information, as of September–October 2026.

Film

Hefei in
ten minutes

For the participants in ChinaConnect’s business trip, Edge.be made a film about the city that reinvented itself: the Hefei model, the companies, the Belgian connection, culture and food. Narrated in Dutch, with Dutch subtitles. Most of the company films further down are also available in English and Chinese.

Chapters · 10:15 min

A film by ChinaConnect, partner of hefei.be · voice: AI (Gemini TTS) · animation: Edge.be · photos: Wikimedia Commons

Opportunities

Four opportunities
for European
companies

Supplying the EV chain

Six carmakers in one place need parts, software, machinery and services. Win one customer in Hefei and the next one is close by.

Energy storage

Sungrow and Engie show how Chinese batteries support the Belgian grid. There are opportunities in projects, installation, maintenance and software.

Research and start-ups

USTC Silicon Valley is looking for foreign partners for research, pilots and joint start-ups, from AI to quantum and new materials.

A city that decides

The city government co-invests and decides quickly. With the right introduction, you get to the decision-makers sooner.

And the other way round

Companies from Hefei are looking for distributors, integrators and customers in Europe. European companies are looking for suppliers, partners and acquisition targets in Hefei. On hefei.be they find each other.

Register your company for free

The Belgian connection

From Li Hongzhang
to Vilvoorde

Jean Jadot
Jean Jadot · Collectif du BCK, CC BY-SA 4.0
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang · Hubert Vos, public domain
  1. 1896

    A statesman in Brussels

    Li Hongzhang (李鸿章), the statesman from Hefei, visits King Leopold II. Shortly afterwards a Belgian syndicate wins the concession for the Peking–Hankou railway, built under the direction of engineer Jean Jadot.

  2. 1971

    Diplomatic relations

    In October 1971 Belgium and China establish diplomatic relations. 2026 marks the 55th anniversary.

  3. 2025

    NIO in Belgium

    NIO and firefly come to Belgium through Hedin. There is a swap station in Edegem, near Antwerp.

  4. Today

    Batteries in Vilvoorde

    In Vilvoorde, Engie is building a 200 MW / 800 MWh battery park with 320 Sungrow containers from Hefei.

  5. Today

    Made in Hefei

    The Cupra Tavascan, built at VW Anhui in Hefei, is on Belgian roads.

People and culture

A city of
judges and
scientists

Hefei is proud of two things: integrity and science. You hear it in the names people mention.

Bao Zheng

Bao Zheng包拯

999–1062

Incorruptible judge of the Song dynasty, recognisable in opera by his black face. Government agencies still hold him up as an example.

Li Hongzhang

Li Hongzhang李鸿章

1823–1901

General and diplomat who wanted to modernise China with factories, shipyards and railways.

Chen-Ning Yang

Chen-Ning Yang杨振宁

1922–2025

Born in Hefei. Won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957, at the age of 35.

Pan Jianwei

Pan Jianwei潘建伟

b. 1970

Quantum physicist at USTC and father of the Micius quantum satellite.

Liu Qingfeng

Liu Qingfeng刘庆峰

b. 1973

Founded iFlytek in 1999, as a PhD student at USTC.

William Li李斌

b. 1974

Founder of NIO, born in Anhui province.

Luzhou 庐州

Hefei’s old name. You will see it in dishes, brands and hotel names.

Huangmei opera 黄梅戏

Folksy, melodic opera from Anhui, far more accessible than Peking opera.

Three Kingdoms

In 215 General Zhang Liao held off a much larger army at Xiaoyaojin. The battlefield is now a city park.

Doing business in Hefei: advice from our partner ChinaConnect

The city has a seat at the table

In Hefei the government is often an investor, shareholder or host. A meeting with a company is also a meeting with the city. Make sure your story fits what Hefei wants to build.

The relationship carries the deal

Guanxi cannot be forwarded in an introduction email. Whoever holds the relationship has to be in the room. That is why ChinaConnect travels with you and Jun Jiang sits at the table herself.

A first meeting can be slow

A month of silence is rarely a no. ChinaConnect keeps both sides informed until the relationship stands on its own feet.

At the table

Expect plenty of toasts with 干杯 (gānbēi). If you don’t drink alcohol, say so in advance and toast with tea.

Food

What to order
in Hefei?

Anhui cuisine (徽菜) is one of China’s eight great cuisines: savoury, braised and often fermented. It comes from the mountains of southern Anhui.

Dish中文What is it?
Fermented mandarin fish臭鳜鱼‘Stinky’ fish, braised. Strong smell, delicate taste.
Hairy tofu毛豆腐Tofu with a downy layer of mould, fried until crisp.
Li Hongzhang’s stew李鸿章大杂烩A stew of seafood, meat and tofu.
Luzhou duck庐州烤鸭Roast duck, Hefei style.
Sanhe rice dumplings三河米饺Deep-fried half-moons of rice dough.
Crayfish小龙虾Spicy, eaten with your hands, on Ningguo Road.
Huangshan Maofeng黄山毛峰Famous green tea from southern Anhui.

For the brave: eat the hairy tofu hot, dipped in chilli sauce, and wash it down with a glass of Maofeng. Classic places to go: the restaurants around Huaihe Road and the night market near Ningguo Road.

Fermented mandarin fish
Fermented mandarin fish · photo Zheng Zhou, CC BY-SA 4.0
Hairy tofu
Hairy tofu · photo Zheng Zhou, CC BY-SA 4.0
Maofeng tea
Maofeng tea · photo Pannet, CC BY 4.0

Visit

Explore and
get lost

The centre is compact. You can see a lot between two meetings.

Baogong Park

Baogong Park包公园

32 hectares of green with the temple and tomb of Judge Bao Zheng, right in the city centre.

Photo: xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0
Li Hongzhang’s Residence

Li Hongzhang’s Residence李鸿章故居

A Qing-dynasty residence on Huaihe Road, in the centre.

Photo: 猫猫的日记本, CC BY-SA 3.0
Mingjiao Temple

Mingjiao Temple明教寺

Built on the platform where Cao Cao trained his crossbowmen.

Photo: 源義信, CC BY 4.0
Anhui Museum

Anhui Museum安徽博物院

Free with your passport, closed on Mondays.

Photo: 钉钉, CC BY-SA 4.0
Swan Lake and Grand Theatre

Swan Lake and Grand Theatre天鹅湖

The new city centre, with lights on the water in the evening.

Photo: 钉钉, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sanhe

Sanhe三河古镇

Old water town about 40 km away, worth half a day.

Photo: NTooru, CC BY-SA 4.0
Luogang Park

Luogang Park骆岗公园

The old airport is now a 12.7 km² city park.

Photo: Kuroiotoko, CC BY-SA 4.0
Chaohu Lake

Chaohu Lake巢湖

One of China’s five great freshwater lakes.

Photo: Virgil Guo, CC BY-SA 4.0

And also

Huaihe Road by night淮河路

Pedestrian street with illuminated façades.

Ningguo Road宁国路

Crayfish street, open until late.

Xiaoyaojin Park逍遥津

The battlefield of 215 is now a city park.

Practical

How to get
to Hefei

Visa

Belgians can travel to China without a visa until the end of 2026, for stays of up to 30 days. Check the rules with the Belgian FPS Foreign Affairs before you leave.

Train

High-speed trains run to Hefei South from Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing. From Hangzhou the journey takes about 2 to 2.5 hours.

Air

Hefei Xinqiao Airport (HFE). From Europe you usually fly via Shanghai, Beijing or another hub.

Metro

Eight lines, 275 km. Pay with the QR code in Alipay or WeChat.

Payment

Alipay and WeChat Pay work with a foreign bank card. Bring some cash as well.

Weather

Mid-October: about 14–23 °C. Summers are hot and humid, winters are cool.

Three words

你好nǐ hǎo (hello)
谢谢xièxie (thank you)
合肥Héféi

Get involved

One platform for
Hefei and Europe

Companies and governments from Hefei introduce themselves to Europe here. European companies find suppliers, partners, distributors, acquirers and customers. You write in your own language. The platform translates.

Companies from Hefei

Claim or create your profile, publish news and confirm your partnerships.

Register for free

Government and institutions

Seek cooperation with European partners and publish news and projects.

Register for free

European companies

Find suppliers, partners, distributors, acquirers or customers in Hefei.

Register for free

How it works

  1. Register

    Create an account, or claim the profile hefei.be has already prepared for your company.

  2. A profile in your language

    Write in Chinese or another language. The platform translates into Dutch, French, English and Chinese.

  3. News without the writing

    hefei.be follows the news on your website. You get a notification with a ready-made article that you approve or edit.

  4. Confirm partnerships

    Say which companies you work with. A partnership only appears once both parties confirm it.

  5. Get found

    European companies search the company directory and request an introduction. That is how you connect with the people you are looking for.

What does it cost?

Everything is free during the launch phase. Later, this model will apply:

Standard profileName, sector, description, website and contact details.Free
Content in ChinesePublish your profile and news in Chinese.Free
TranslationTranslation of your profile and news into Dutch, French, English and other languages.Paid
Company presentationA presentation about your company on your profile.Add-on
Company videoA video about your company on your profile, in several languages.Add-on
Register for freeMore about registration and pricing

Partners

Experts who
know Hefei

hefei.be works with partners who know the city and its companies up close. They get a permanent, visible place in the sections where their knowledge makes the difference.

Domain partner · business between Europe and China

ChinaConnect was founded in Antwerp in 2017 by Jun Jiang and connects European and Chinese companies. In Hefei it guides entrepreneurs in their dealings with companies, the university and the city, and helps from the first question to the signed contract. In the other direction, it brings Chinese companies to Europe.

1988Jun Jiang in Belgium
10+years as head of HRD Antwerp in Shanghai
2017ChinaConnect founded
3offices: Antwerp, Shanghai, Beijing

Jun Jiang, founder

Jun Jiang was born and educated in China and has lived in Belgium since 1988. She worked as a sworn interpreter for the Belgian courts and ran HRD Antwerp’s Shanghai office for more than ten years. That network is the foundation of ChinaConnect, together with partners in China and the UNIDO ITPO office in Beijing.

Jun’s Chinese wisdom and excellent network will help you move forward.

Wu Fenghua, managing director, TTF Haute Joaillerie

Prefer to see for yourself first? A Discovery Trip takes you to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hefei and Beijing in one journey, with visits to the companies that matter.

How ChinaConnect works

  1. First conversation

    You explain what you are looking for. ChinaConnect tells you honestly whether Hefei is the right place for it, and what will not work.

  2. Study and shortlist

    A market study that ends in something you can act on: an action plan and a shortlist of three to five companies, with their strengths and weaknesses.

  3. Visit to Hefei

    ChinaConnect plans the meetings, travels with you and interprets, including with the city and in the innovation zones.

  4. Negotiation

    ChinaConnect sits at the table with you and translates intentions as well as words.

  5. Follow-up

    After the visit ChinaConnect keeps both sides informed until the partnership stands on its own feet.

Contact ChinaConnect directly

Email
jun@chinaconnect.be
Phone
+32 499 35 13 45
Go to chinaconnect.be

Become a partner of hefei.be

Are you a government body, trade fair, chamber of commerce, knowledge institution or adviser with ties to Hefei? As a partner you get a prominent place in the sections that match your expertise, and direct contact with the companies looking for you.

Become a partnerinfo@hefei.be
  • Hefei city government and public services
  • Trade fairs and events
  • Chambers of commerce and sector federations
  • Universities and research centres
  • Advisers, legal experts and logistics providers

About hefei.be

A project by Edge.be,
on the Zaela.com platform

Owner

hefei.be is a project by Edge.be, the Belgian AI-first agency. Edge sets the project’s direction and chooses the partners.

Platform

hefei.be runs on Zaela.com. Zaela handles site creation, content discovery, translations, technology, promotion and lead generation.

Partners

Domain experts such as ChinaConnect contribute their knowledge of Hefei and China. New partners, such as governments or trade fairs, are welcome.

Contact

Questions about
hefei.be?

For registrations, partnerships, press enquiries or an introduction to a company: email us. You’ll get a reply in Dutch, French, English or Chinese.

Email usRegister
Email
info@hefei.be

Need support with a partner search or a company visit in Hefei? Contact our partner ChinaConnect directly.

Contact ChinaConnect
Sources and image credits

Figures

Hefei Municipal Bureau of Statistics and Hefei Municipal Government (population, GDP, cars, research, metro) · Anhui Provincial Government and NBS (historical series, rankings) · Caixin, Reuters and Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (the Hefei model, NIO, CXMT) · 2025 annual reports and company information from NIO, JAC, iFlytek, Sungrow and BOE · Volkswagen Group China · Chinese Academy of Sciences, ASIPP (EAST) · USTC, Science and Technology Daily, Xinhua and China Daily (USTC Silicon Valley) · Hedin Automotive and Engie (projects in Belgium) · Belgian FPS Foreign Affairs (visas). As of October 2026, figures rounded.

Photos

Free images from Wikimedia Commons:

Films

Animation by Edge.be for ChinaConnect. Voice created with AI (Gemini TTS). Music: original composition. The Dutch versions were made for the business delegation of October 2026, the English and Chinese versions as promotional films.