On August 25, Nanjing signed a strategic cooperation agreement with leading internet company JD.com. The company has selected the Hexi South area in Jianye District to build a billion-yuan regional headquarters and a research and development center for 10,000 employees.

Corporate investment represents genuine market behavior, and "betting heavily" on a city demonstrates the strongest endorsement of the local business environment and development potential. JD.com's strategic move fully demonstrates Nanjing's provincial capital responsibility in serving national and provincial development with outstanding high-quality development performance, while clearly showcasing Jianye District's firm determination to "pursue excellence and strive for first-class" in all aspects of work.

Under the current complex and volatile external environment, JD.com's confidence in Nanjing carries special significance:

This represents an exemplary story of mutual attraction between a famous city and a renowned enterprise. Nanjing is a megacity in the Yangtze River Delta and an important central city in eastern China, while Jianye District serves as the urban living room and city center that best showcases its modern and international image. JD.com, as a leading internet company, ranks 13th in the 2024 Fortune China 500, and its strategic layout has always attracted attention.

Last year, during Nanjing's 2024 Global Industrial Technology Innovation and Investment Promotion Conference, the Nanjing Municipal Government signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with JD.com, which developed into 16 new strategic cooperation items this year. Under the guidance of shared industrial ideals, the famous city and renowned enterprise have formed a close "development community."

This represents a brilliant demonstration of major companies "setting up shop" and attracting headquarters clusters. JD.com is not the first internet giant to favor Nanjing and Jianye. Previously, internet giants like Alibaba and Xiaomi have successively chosen Hexi South. In recent years, high-level projects such as 58 Group's Jiangsu headquarters and Hundsun Technologies' Jiangsu headquarters have also moved in, with some describing Hexi South as "two words land, whole game activates."

JD.com has also chosen to be "neighbors" with Alibaba and Xiaomi. Its project will be developed as JD.com's regional center, undertaking centralized office and R&D functions. In the future, this location will gather JD.com's R&D capabilities across multiple business segments including retail, technology, finance, health, and home services, with a focus on introducing R&D talent in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous driving.

This represents a profound transformation from the "industry-city-people" to "people-city-industry" development concept. Ding Hong, Dean of Jiangbei New Area Development Research Institute at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Special Researcher at Jiangsu Provincial Government Counselors' Office, analyzed that unlike the previous "industry-city-people" model of building factories in remote areas and driving urban development through industry, Hexi South's planning has always revolved around human needs, creating urban functional facilities that match the work and life requirements of high-quality talent. The high-quality urban environment and excellent population structure create a strong magnetic attraction effect, successfully attracting leading internet companies to cluster here, with JD.com's settlement being another successful practice of this model.

Headquarters-type enterprises typically bring their own talent, technology, capital, and market resources, significantly enhancing regional industrial ecosystems. Supported by internet giant campuses, Jianye District has fully launched the construction of a central innovation zone this year, focusing on "AI+" industry directions, promoting the accelerated gathering of innovation resources in Hexi South, and working to create a "showcase window" for Nanjing's innovation map upgrade and a "central zone" for gathering top innovation elements.

In just eight months, the construction of Hexi Central Innovation Zone has shown initial results: Xiaomi Nanjing Technology Park has been upgraded to a super R&D center, with mobile hardware engineering laboratories put into use and R&D personnel exceeding 5,000; Nanjing Alibaba Center has attracted 59 high-quality enterprises, including world-class Fortune 500 companies like Samsung Nanjing Research Institute, high-growth potential enterprises like Nanjing Nengli Chip Technology, innovative "seedlings" like Michuan Artificial Intelligence, and Alibaba ecosystem partners like Endpoint Star Technology.

When visiting the Hexi Central Innovation Zone, the "Ali Corridor" connecting multiple functional areas leaves a deep impression. It links office spaces, startup incubation, commercial facilities, employee restaurants, and other functional areas, building an interconnected one-stop ecological community. The physical space interconnection reflects the open and collaborative ecosystem of internet giants, while directly echoing the development vision of Hexi Central Innovation Zone: linking "AI+" enterprises through data elements to create a provincially influential "AI+" industry highland.

In this year's innovation hub layout of "two cities, two zones, two ports, two centers" proposed by Nanjing Municipal Committee, Hexi Central Innovation Zone has become an important pole.

To promote the integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, Jianye District Committee has issued a new mobilization order: seize the opportunity of the city's innovation hub layout, build Hexi Central Innovation Zone at a high level, strengthen and expand advantageous industries, accelerate the layout of innovation industries, chart a new development path of "Financial Center + Innovation Jianye," achieve dual-wheel drive of "finance + innovation," and strive to become a new growth pole and important carrier for the city's high-quality development.