In recent years, Xiaoting District of Yichang City has adhered to the principles of ecological priority and green development. Guided by the direction of "high-end, green, and intelligent" transformation, and leveraging leading enterprises such as Xingfa Group, the district has cultivated two core growth drivers: organic silicon new materials and electronic-grade chemicals. The agglomeration effect of the modern chemical new materials industry continues to intensify, with comprehensive competitiveness steadily rising.

Recognized as a "City of Innovation," the organic silicon industry chain has achieved a significant upgrade during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. Through targeted investment attraction along the industrial chain, Xiaoting District successfully introduced over 10 high-quality upstream and downstream enterprises, including Xinyaqiang, Zheng'an, and Longqiao Silicon. It has essentially built a complete industrial chain spanning "organic silicon monomer — intermediates — downstream products — end products," successfully establishing the largest integrated organic silicon industry cluster in Central China. Xingfa Group has constructed a 600,000-ton-per-year organic silicon monomer facility in Xiaoting, filling a gap in Hubei Province's production capabilities. The company independently developed China's first large-diameter U-type tube fluidized bed and innovated key technologies for monomer synthesis and separation control, with multiple key process indicators reaching internationally advanced levels. It has led the formulation of international standards for fumed silica, and its 107 and 110 specialty silicone rubbers have entered the US market.

Hubei Zheng'an New Materials Co., Ltd. settled in Xiaoting in 2020 and within a few years grew into an innovative SME in Hubei Province, a "Gazelle" sci-tech innovation enterprise, and a national high-tech enterprise. The second phase of its silicone rubber project is set to commence operation in early 2025. Its products are widely used in high-end fields such as automobiles and electronics, achieving rapid and high-quality development while also realizing an upgrade from "basic manufacturing" to "high-end creation." On May 17, 2023, the China Fluorosilicone Material Industry Association officially granted Xiaoting District the title of "China's Organic Silicon Innovation Capital," making it the first region in the country to receive this honor, signifying that Xiaoting's organic silicon industry has entered the top tier nationally. It is estimated that by 2026, the production capacity for organic silicon monomers and downstream deep processing in Xiaoting District will exceed 1 million tons.

Breaking foreign monopolies, the Electronic Chemicals Zone leads the nation. As core raw materials for semiconductor manufacturing, electronic chemicals have long faced foreign technological blockades. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Xiaoting District seized the strategic opportunity of chip localization. It established a high-end microelectronic new materials industrial highland within the Xingfa Group Yichang New Materials Industrial Park, providing critical support for breakthroughs in China's chip localization efforts. In April 2021, the Hubei Electronic Chemicals Zone commenced construction in Xiaoting District. After nearly five years of development, the zone has laid out five general wet electronic chemicals—electronic-grade phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, hydrofluoric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and ammonia water—as well as over 70 varieties of functional wet electronic chemicals across five categories, including etchants, cleaning agents, developers, strippers, and regenerators. The annual production capacity for these products and supporting raw materials has surpassed 400,000 tons, ranking first in the country. Among them, electronic-grade phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid hold approximately 80% and 35% of the domestic market share, respectively, successfully breaking foreign monopolies.

Behind this breakthrough lies continuous R&D investment and relentless effort: the key technology for producing ultra-high-purity electronic-grade phosphoric acid and highly selective etchants for chips won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award; high-purity yellow phosphorus purification and rectification technology fundamentally addresses impurity challenges in electronic chemical preparation; products from Xingfu Electronics meet the highest grade standards of the SEMI, and its high-performance etchants fill a domestic gap for advanced process nodes, making it the sole domestic supplier for such products. It is understood that by 2026, the zone will also focus on developing products like photoinitiators for photoresists and electronic-grade plating solutions, aiming to break through technical bottlenecks in areas such as electronic-grade special gases and packaging materials. The goal is to fully build an electronic chemicals industrial base with internationally advanced quality, globally first-class technology, and the largest scale in China, with an annual production capacity for electronic chemicals reaching 550,000 tons.

Focusing on transformation and tackling challenges, the acceleration of a green, intelligent ecosystem is underway. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Xiaoting District has used greening and intelligentization as key levers to vigorously promote the transformation and upgrading of the modern chemical new materials industry. This transformation represents not only iterative upgrades in products and technology but also a comprehensive renewal of development philosophy and models. Addressing pain points in chemical industry safety management, Taisheng Chemical, in collaboration with Dongtu Technology, built an intelligent online real-time inspection platform. Utilizing advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, and AI, the platform enables comprehensive intelligent management and control of the plant area. Equipped with functions like AR real-world maps, personnel positioning, and online monitoring of equipment status, it can automatically identify unsafe personnel behaviors and abnormal equipment states, forming a closed-loop management system of "early warning — verification — handling," significantly improving inspection efficiency and safety control levels. In 2024, Taisheng Chemical was recognized as a Hubei Provincial Industrial Internet Platform, providing a solid demonstration and leading example for industrial intelligent upgrading.

Concurrently, Xingfa Group invested 310 million yuan to build a new smart management center in the industrial park. A smart large screen displays the operational status of equipment across the group's production bases in real time, monitoring and calculating the consumption of key raw/auxiliary materials and energy, and dynamically tracking internal production operations, material consumption, three-waste emissions, and the movement of personnel and vehicles within the park. The smart management and control platform connects over 30 information systems and more than 50 automated control systems, realizing smart dispatch and operation maintenance, intelligent inspection and control, AI-assisted operations, green energy and carbon management, and integrated coordination of production, supply, and sales. The comprehensive utilization rate of the park's "four wastes" exceeds 95%, effectively promoting the organic unity of economic, ecological, and social benefits.