"The products developed and manufactured in the new industrial base will enhance the company's leading position in the global markets."

Liu says Lenovo attaches great importance to the IT market in Chengdu and plans to further increase its investments. "We believe it is the right choice for us to build the base in Chengdu, because the city provides good logistics services, human resources and government policy support."

Not surprisingly, it is also these very reasons that have attracted several global companies to Chengdu.

US chipmaker Texas Instruments (TI) is one such IT major that has in the last few years made considerable advances in Chengdu. In October 2010, TI set up a manufacturing unit in Chengdu with an initial investment of $275 million (210 million euros). The unit is the company's first and the only local production plant in China.

But more importantly, the TI Chengdu facility was one of the first units in China to use advanced technologies for semiconductor manufacture. In other words, it was the beginning of the high-tech industrial transformation in Chengdu.

"The Chengdu unit was one of the major initiatives charted by TI to boost global production capacity," says Xie Bing, TI's general manager for Greater China, adding that the unit complements the company's existing analog wafer production capacity.

"By locating the unit in Chengdu, TI has been able to move its manufacturing resources closer to the growing customer base in China. It also helps the company to better serve the customers in western China," Xie says.

The real essence of the TI strategy, Xie says, is the chip major's determination and commitment to long-term investment and development in China.

The real trump card of Chengdu, according to Xie and many other global companies, is the abundant talent pool.

As a major center for science and technology in China, Chengdu is home to more than 63 institutions of higher learning and secondary technical schools. It has more than 2,700 scientific research and development organizations and over 490,000 researchers.

With its strategic location, Chengdu is also uniquely positioned to capitalize on the go-west strategy, experts say.

"Chengdu has also been fostering entrepreneurship among high-end technical personnel, especially those multinational IT company backgrounds," says Tang Jiqiang, director of the strategic development planning bureau of the Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone.