Foshan, which is located on the west bank of the Pearl River in Guangdong province, has seen a boom in its advanced equipment manufacturing industry.

In 2018, Foshan's industrial added value of its equipment manufacturing industry reached 142.6 billion yuan ($20.12 billion), accounting for 31.1 percent of the total industrial added value in Foshan, said Zhao Hai, deputy mayor of Foshan.

The Fifth International Fair for Investment and Trade of Advanced Equipment Manufacturing on the West Bank of the Pearl River (AEME Expo), first held in 2015, will be held from Sept 20 to 22 at Foshan's Tanzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center this year.

The Fifth International Fair for Investment and Trade of Advanced Equipment Manufacturing on the West Bank of the Pearl River (AEME Expo) will be held from Sept 20 to 22 at Foshan's Tanzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center. [Photo by Xu Yiyi/chinadaily.com.cn]

The expo is expected to showcase the latest achievements of the advanced equipment manufacturing industry from eight cities on the west bank of the Pearl River including Foshan, Zhuhai, and Zhongshan.

HSG Laser, one of the exhibitors of the expo, is a private company set up in Foshan in 2009. It is a national high-tech company specializing in the research and development, manufacturing, and marketing of smart laser equipment.

After eight years of development, the company has reached an annual production of 2,000 fiber optic laser cutting machines and its sales ranked first in China.

Huge investments in industrial upgrades have been made by the company. "The annual research and development costs accounted for about 8 percent of the total sales of the company to provide high-quality service to our customers," said Yu Hongbiao, deputy general manager of HSG Laser.

"We have also devoted great efforts in recruiting overseas talents, as we have set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Hamburg, Germany. Another subsidiary will be set up in Japan this year to carry out further R&D while attracting more talents," added Yu.

"R&D is the core in our company's development and our company's annual investment in R&D is over 50 million yuan," said Jiang Xiaoping, general manager of GDXL Precise Machinery Co Ltd, a high-tech company based in Foshan managing molding equipment and services to the PET plastics industry.