At the 8th Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, Quanzhou signed seven digital economy projects valued at nearly 6 billion yuan, underscoring its ambition to become a digital powerhouse. Over the past several years, the city has woven together more than 310 initiatives with total funding exceeding 130 billion yuan, fueling a wave of tech-driven growth.
One standout success story is Quanzhou's walkie-talkie industry, rooted in Nan'an since the 1980s. From a cluster of small workshops, it has grown to over 200 enterprises churning out analog and digital devices. Yet for decades, manufacturers grappled with a critical roadblock: a shortage of domestically made chips, forcing reliance on imports and patent licenses.
Enter Litong Technology. The communications specialist relocated its high-end chip and module operations from Shenzhen to Quanzhou, forging a research-to-sales ecosystem with local partners. This bold move slashed dependency on foreign suppliers and unlocked 70% of the market in the Chinese mainland.
Litong's first-generation A6 System-on-Chip (SoC) was a game-changer, boosting monthly output from roughly 10,000 to over 500,000 units while improving performance stability. Fast forward to 2023, the third-generation A8 chip emerged, fully designed and manufactured in the Chinese mainland. By integrating digital baseband, radio frequency functions, a proprietary ADR protocol, and a custom vocoder, the A8 overcomes key patent hurdles and elevates security and reliability.
The results speak volumes: annual production soared from 6 million units in 2008 to more than 40 million today. Complementary standards, such as a group specification for ADR-based digital walkie-talkies, and fresh frequency-use rules from the National Radio Administration are accelerating the sector's analog-to-digital transition.
With a growing ecosystem of high-performance, homegrown chips, Quanzhou's walkie-talkie industry is poised for deeper digitalization, enhanced security, and wider global reach. As the city cements its status as a national leader in professional communications gear, the story offers a blueprint for tech-driven industrial revival.
Reference(s):
Indigenous Chip Development Breathes New Life into Quanzhou’s Walkie-Talkie Industry
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