China's sustained efforts to boost domestic demand and reinforce supply chain resilience, as well as drive businesses toward green and digital transformation, will pave the way for deeper global business collaboration in its market this year, said executives of multinational corporations on Monday.
Despite the slowdown in global trade and investment growth in recent years, foreign companies remain steadfast in ramping up their investment in the Chinese market, they added.
Lan Qingxin, a professor specializing in cross-border investment studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said that as China embraces a new era of green and innovation-driven growth, global investors are increasingly focusing on digital solutions, supply chain optimization, high-end manufacturing, customized innovation and green businesses in the Chinese market.
Noting the widespread adoption of the advanced large language model DeepSeek among domestic and overseas users, Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that China's ability to attract foreign investment will be further enhanced this year.
DeepSeek, a two-year-old startup based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, has created the open-source LLM of the same name at a cost much lower than its foreign peers.
Even though geopolitical tensions are rising, global demand remains subdued and certain countries have tightened investment regulations, China saw the establishment of 59,080 new foreign-invested companies in 2024, marking a 9.9 percent year-on-year increase, data from the Ministry of Commerce shows.
Cummins Inc, a United States-based engine manufacturer, plans to increase its market share this year in key application sectors within China, including power generation equipment for data centers and high-tech manufacturing.
"Together with local partners, we will also accelerate the innovation pace on the internal combustion engine system, including high-efficiency diesel, natural gas and hydrogen internal combustion engines," said Nathan Stoner, vice-president of Cummins.
Eager to seize more market share in China, Thai beverage company TCP Group, will commence operations of a production base in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region later this year to supply its popular energy drink Red Bull.
The production base, set up with a total investment of 1.3 billion yuan ($179.2 million), will strengthen the supply chain network, empower upstream and downstream partners, and create another important link connecting the markets between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TCP Group.
"The rapid response capability and strong execution power of China's supply chain enable us to quickly adapt to market changes and promptly adjust production and supply chain strategies to meet the diversified demands of markets worldwide," he added.
Yin Zheng, executive vice-president of Schneider Electric's China and East Asia operations, said that as a major engine of global economic growth, China has a huge market, a strong industrial base and abundant innovation resources, while its cultivation of new quality productive forces provides an even stronger impetus for industrial transformation and upgrading.
The French industrial conglomerate has continuously increased research and development investment in China and has established a series of world-class innovation institutes in China to support industrial upgrading and energy transformation.
"We have been introducing innovative Chinese solutions and advanced products to the global market, expanding China's impact and realizing the vision of 'in China for the world'," Yin said.
According to a recent survey by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, more than 58 percent of Japanese companies surveyed recognize China as a key market for their global operations, and they plan to maintain or expand their investment in the Chinese market this year.
Several factors have influenced their investment decisions, including increasing demand and rising orders. The chamber said that Japanese businesses are also more confident about the Chinese market this year, driven by an improved business environment, a visa-free policy for Japanese citizens and government initiatives such as trade-in policies.
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