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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> In-Depth -> 
‘Chinese factories’ reveal China’s allure for foreign investment
    2019-10-29  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THE second China International Import Expo (CIIE) scheduled for November in Shanghai is definitely an event that many overseas businesses will not want to miss. With over 3,600 participants in last year’s expo, the enthusiasm remains strong this year.

The CIIE provides a platform for these companies to seek the great potential of the Chinese market while helping them better understand the needs of Chinese customers.

Many foreign businesses have already expanded their presence in the world’s second-largest economy, setting up manufacturing bases, regional headquarters, and research and development centers. They are actively tapping the market in China to weather through a time of complicated global economic and trade situations.

Tesla Gigafactory

Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai, which took less than 10 months to build, is already producing full vehicles on a trial basis ahead of schedule.

“China is by far the largest market for mid-sized premium sedans. With the Model 3 priced on par with gasoline powered mid-sized sedans, we believe China could become the biggest market for the Model 3,” the U.S. electric carmaker said in its earnings report last week.

Tesla had a fantastic year in China since purchasing a plot of land for its Gigafactory in the Lingang area of Shanghai in mid-October last year. The factory, the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project in Shanghai with an investment of 50 billion yuan (US$7 billion) and a designed annual production capacity of 500,000 units, broke ground in January.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in August that he was “astounded” by the progress in the building of the Gigafactory and had never seen anything go so fast in his life before. “I really think China is the future,” he said.

The robust demand for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in the world’s largest auto market was behind Tesla’s investment in China. Despite sluggish sales in the broader automobile market, China saw NEV sales rise 20.8 percent year on year to 872,000 units in the January-September period.

China is Tesla’s largest market outside the United States, with sales jumping 41.8 percent year on year to US$1.47 billion in the first half of this year, according to Tesla.

China is transiting to a more balanced endogenous growth model from an export-oriented model, said Cheng Shi, head of research and chief economist of ICBC International Holdings Ltd. For businesses, growth resilience and structural opportunities in the era of high-quality growth are highly expected, said Cheng.

ABB Smart Factory

Swiss tech giant ABB, which moved the global headquarters of its robotics business to Shanghai in 2006, began the construction of a US$150-million robotics manufacturing and research facility in Kangqiao of Shanghai last month.

The new facility, expected to be put into operation in 2021, is designed to be the most advanced, automated and flexible factory in the robotics industry worldwide, utilizing the latest manufacturing processes — a cutting-edge center where robots make robots.

The investment came as ABB raised bets on the industrial upgrading of the manufacturing sector in China, the world’s largest robotics market, and at a time when intelligent manufacturing has become a new popular destination for foreign investment.

China has rolled out policies to encourage more foreign investment in high-end, intelligent and green manufacturing sectors.

China is moving from a large manufacturing country to a manufacturing powerhouse, offering a vast market for ABB’s robotics and automated solutions. Meanwhile, China’s booming artificial intelligence (AI) development could offer a lift to ABB’s robotics business.

Sami Atiya, president of ABB Group’s Robotics and Motion Division, said ABB’s robotics product line will be doubled in terms of both scope and depth in the next few years.

ABB has invested more than US$2.4 billion in China, now its second-largest market, since 1992, and has a total workforce of over 18,000 in the country.

Akzonobel’s ‘colorful factory’

AkzoNobel, a Netherlands-based supplier of paints, coatings and specialty chemicals, entered the Chinese market in the early 1980s and has set up 15 production bases in the country, its biggest single market. “We know well that if we seek to win the global market, we should first win the Chinese market,” said Mark Kwok, president of AkzoNobel China/North Asia.

Apart from further investment in production expansion and research and development, AkzoNobel is also penetrating Chinese neighborhoods by using color paints to change living environments for Chinese residents, said Kwok.

AkzoNobel, which has colorful office buildings at its research and development center in Shanghai, has provided customized, environmentally friendly solutions for old-neighborhood renovation in Shanghai’s Songjiang District.

By 2018, it had helped renovate 2.83 million square meters of old neighborhoods with colorful paints, adding some color and vitality to the old urban areas in Songjiang.

Kwok said through Shanghai, he can see China’s determination for wide-ranging opening up, which will provide good opportunities for the business growth of multinational companies in China and even the world.

(Xinhua)

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