The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released the 2024 Comprehensive Evaluation Result of National High-Tech Zones, ranking Wuxi National Hi-Tech District, or Wuxi New District, 17th out of 178 national zones. This represents a rise of one spot over the previous evaluation and the fifth time in a row the zone's ranking has risen.

WND reported strong economic performance in 2024, achieving a regional GDP of 264.53 billion yuan ($36.9 billion), up 6.0 percent year-on-year and 0.2 percentage points higher than the Wuxi average. The district's per capita GDP surpassed 360,000 yuan, ranking first among all counties and districts in Jiangsu province. General public budget revenue reached 26.59 billion yuan, ranking third among all county-level areas in the province.

Fixed asset investment totaled 82.38 billion yuan, with industrial investment accounting for 44.19 billion yuan, up 13 percent and ranking first in the city. WND attracted 145 major industrial projects worth over 100 million yuan each, including 18 exceeding 1 billion yuan and one exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Wholesale sales reached 379.96 billion yuan, a 10.5 percent increase — 4.5 percentage points above the city average. Retail sales totaled 37.29 billion yuan, up 7.5 percent.

High-tech industries contributed 78.4 percent of the total above-designated-scale industrial output, ranking first citywide for the first time in recent years. Over 3,000 new tech companies were introduced and more than 1,800 national-level high-tech enterprises operated in the zone, both city-leading figures. Five companies went public in 2024, the highest number among all county-level jurisdictions in the province.

WND maintained second place nationwide in the integrated circuit park competitiveness rankings and rose to 18th among national biopharmaceutical industry parks. Future industries saw an output of over 70 billion yuan, accounting for more than 60 percent of the city's total.

Total above-designated-scale industrial output exceeded 660 billion yuan, with core digital economy revenues reaching 366.35 billion yuan (up 9.9 percent). Emerging industries accounted for 55.4 percent of total output, the highest in Wuxi.

Foreign trade hit a record high of 393.78 billion yuan, up 10.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 51.1 percent of the city's total. WND continues to lead in outward investment, service outsourcing, and trade in services. It was also named a provincial-level headquarters economy cluster — one of only three in Jiangsu. Its comprehensive bonded zone expansion has been approved by the General Administration of Customs of China. The zone's import-export volume rose to 2nd in Jiangsu and 7th nationwide.

Environmental quality also improved, with 84 percent of days recording good air quality and 100 percent of monitored water bodies rated at or above Grade III. PM2.5 levels and air quality rates reached historic bests.

Urban residents' per capita disposable income hit 78,691 yuan, ranking second in the city and achieving the highest growth rate. The district added 31,300 new urban jobs in 2024.