China has announced plans to build an industrial base in Xiamen city, east China's Fujian province, as part of an effort to launch a national project to develop its semiconductor lighting sector.

Three similar bases will also be built in the municipality of Shanghai, Dalian in northeast Liaoning province, and Nanchang, capital of east Jiangxi province, to gear up the development of the industry in China.

China plans to input 10 billion yuan (some 1.2 billion US dollars) initially, for the project, which will focus on resource exploitation, technology innovation, as well as enterprise buildup,according to the announcement made on Tuesday.

Strong electronic industrial and research backgrounds earned Xiamen's selection as the site of the first semiconductor lightingindustry base in the country. Xiamen has been granted 15 million yuan (1.87 million dollars) of state funds for base construction.

The base in Xiamen city is expected to boost industrial growth through increased cooperation with Taiwan to combine talent, markets, management skills and capital.

Xiamen has set a goal to help its semiconductor lighting industry achieve 30 billion yuan (some 3.6 billion dollars) in annual output value by the year 2010.

Source: Xinhua