Xinjiang Branch of CAS was established on July 30, 1957. As the only branch of CAS in the ethnic minority autonomous region, it has served the economic, social, scientific and technological development of Xinjiang since it was initially established. Under the kind care of the Communist Party of China for half a century, it has become an important base of comprehensive scientific research and senior talent training in Xinjiang.

Xinjiang Branch is responsible for managing CAS institutes located in Xinjiang, including fostering of institutional directors, organizing scientific and technological cooperation between CAS and local governments, coordinating regional innovative efforts, and other locality-based affairs.

Xinjiang Branch consists of 1 administration, 3 research institutes with legal entity, as well as a kindergarten and a logistics service center. The research institutes focus on 12 main directions, including oasis ecology and agriculture, desert environment and ecological restoration, biodiversity in arid areas, resource chemistry, material physics and chemistry, multilingual information technology, environmental engineering and technology, radio astronomy and technology, optical astronomy technology and application, applied astronomy, etc.

As of December 2020, Xinjiang Branch has 881 regular staff, out of which 579, or 65.7%, are researchers and technical personnel, including 1 academician, 183 researchers and senior technical staff, 207 associate researchers, vice-senior technical staff.

Xinjiang Branch administers 23 master programs and 15 Ph.D. programs. By the end of 2020, the enrollment was 827, of which 438 were Ph.D. students.

Xinjiang Branch attaches great importance to the cooperation between the CAS and the local authorities, and has established scientific and technological collaborations and exchanged programs with many local governments, industrial enterprises and universities. With the guidance of the new academy-running policy, catering to the national and local strategic demands, Xinjiang Branch will further strengthen the collaborations both domestically and internationally and make new contribution in basic research, strategic hi-tech development and the studies concerning sustainable socio-economic development.