BEIJING -- China is set to expand its network of intellectual property (IP) protection centers with the approval of a new national-level center in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong province, the country's top IP regulator said Tuesday.

The new center will facilitate rapid and coordinated IP protection work to innovators in the industries of intelligent terminal and new materials.

According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the new institution has brought the total number of national-level IP protection centers across the country to 81, including seven in Guangdong.

These centers have been established in key locations, including the provincial capital of Guangzhou and the innovation hub of Shenzhen.

As a manufacturing powerhouse, Dongguan, a city with a permanent population of over 10 million, boasts a regional GDP exceeding 1 trillion yuan (about $141 billion) and a dynamic innovation ecosystem.

Once completed, the Dongguan center will function as a "one-stop" platform to aggregate resources of IP protection services, promoting the integration of the innovation chain with the industrial chain, the CNIPA noted in a press release.

The CNIPA said it will also strengthen coordination among all protection centers in the province, building a regional IP protection hub that fuels high-quality growth across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster in the GBA has topped the World Intellectual Property Organization's 2025 Global Innovation Index, overtaking Japan's Tokyo-Yokohama cluster to claim the No 1 spot for the first time.