AstraZeneca announced that it will establish its sixth global strategic R&D center in Beijing, BASF is building an integrated production base with a total investment of approximately 10 billion euros in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, and Shanghai Pudong has welcomed 13 regional headquarters of multinational companies and 4 foreign-funded R&D centers... Recently, foreign executives have visited China intensively, major projects have been frequently implemented, and policies to stabilize foreign investment have continued to increase. China's "magnetic attraction" to attract foreign investment is strong. Many heads of foreign-funded enterprises said that China's super-large market, complete production and supply chain system and scientific and technological innovation capabilities are huge opportunities. Investing in China is to go hand in hand with opportunities. They are willing to continue to expand investment in China and open up innovative cooperation space.

Foreign-funded enterprises have cast their votes of confidence with "real money", and cutting-edge innovation fields such as biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing have become the highlights of "landing".

On March 21, AstraZeneca announced a $2.5 billion investment plan to establish its sixth global strategic R&D center in Beijing and reached a number of major R&D and production cooperation agreements.

"This $2.5 billion investment reflects our firm commitment to China." AstraZeneca's global CEO Soriot said that AstraZeneca's sixth global strategic R&D center will rely on Beijing's advantages in cutting-edge biology and artificial intelligence science to become one of the important driving forces supporting AstraZeneca to bring innovative drugs to patients around the world.

This time, AstraZeneca will also establish a new joint venture with CanSino Biologics to develop, produce and commercialize innovative vaccines for respiratory diseases and other infectious diseases to benefit Chinese and global patients. This will become AstraZeneca's first and only vaccine production base in China.

Not only in the field of biomedicine, but also in advanced manufacturing, high-end equipment, new materials and other fields have become investment highlands.

Recently, the Eaton International Automotive Equipment Industrial Park project was officially launched in Suzhou High-tech Zone. It will introduce the world's leading automakers, parts suppliers and industry leaders to build a world-class automotive assembly and manufacturing platform. The total investment scale of the project exceeds 100 million US dollars. After the project is officially put into production, it is expected to achieve an annual output value of about 2.5 billion yuan.

Bolong, president and founder of Eaton Group, said that Suzhou High-tech Zone has provided a good development environment for Eaton Group with its excellent business environment, efficient corporate services and professional investment promotion capabilities. "The project will be built in strict accordance with the international leading industrial carrier standards and environmental protection requirements, attracting the world's top teams to settle in, and contributing to the vigorous development of the regional automotive industry." Bolong said.

Toray Group from Japan has invested in many places in Guangdong, and has recently laid out innovative projects such as non-woven fabrics, water treatment membranes, and composite materials in Foshan. "The high-performance modified resin smart factory started construction in February last year and is expected to be put into production this year." Kenichiro Miki, general representative of Toray Group in China, said, "After completion, this will become the world's only Japanese overseas factory that can produce Toray's full range of resin products. We hope to continue to expand cooperation with China in the future."

"China is in the stage of industrial optimization and upgrading, and the green, digital and intelligent transformation is accelerating. Emerging industries such as new energy, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence are booming, bringing rich cooperation opportunities to global companies." Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said.

According to the data, in 2024, 59,080 new foreign-invested enterprises will be established nationwide, an increase of 9.9% year-on-year. As of now, foreign investment in China covers 20 industries and 115 major industries, with a total of 1.24 million enterprises established and an investment of nearly US$3 trillion.

Where does the determination and confidence of foreign-funded enterprises to invest in China come from?

Industry experts believe that China insists on expanding high-level opening up to the outside world and stabilizing foreign investment steadily, which has strengthened the determination of foreign-funded enterprises to invest in China and deepen their roots in China. From the market perspective, China is the world's second largest consumer market, with the world's largest middle-income group, and contains huge investment and consumption potential. From the perspective of industry, China is committed to high-quality development, accelerating the transformation of green, digital and intelligent, and has strong industrial supporting capabilities. It is the best application scenario for the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, providing new opportunities for cooperation for foreign companies. At the same time, a series of policy deployments such as optimizing the business environment, expanding open pilot projects, and canceling access restrictions have provided strong support for the development of foreign-funded enterprises in China with pragmatic actions.

The "Special Report on the Economic Situation in South China in 2025" recently released by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China shows that most of the companies interviewed are optimistic about the growth of the Chinese market. Harry Sayedin, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, said that the vast majority of the companies interviewed have a positive view on measures such as the comprehensive cancellation of foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and nearly half of the companies believe that this will have a positive impact on the development of their business in China.

More and more foreign companies and institutions are coming in, and the atmosphere for investment and business is getting better and better. "The linkage between the two domestic and international markets and the two resource elements is forming a unique advantage for China's economic development. Emerging foreign capital has begun to pay more attention to China's opportunities and continue to increase investment in China." Li Yao, the partner in charge of China business at KPMG's Global China Business Development Center, said.

Looking forward to 2025, China will continue to steadily promote high-level opening up, and the Ministry of Commerce and other departments will take more powerful measures to promote high-quality investment. He Yadong, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a regular press conference on March 27 that in the face of a complex and changing international situation, China will respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of expanding high-level opening up, and will continue to create a market-oriented, rule-of-law, and internationalized first-class business environment.

"In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to maintain regular communication and exchanges with enterprises from various countries, give full play to the role of the roundtable meeting of foreign-funded enterprises and the special team for foreign investment, and provide good service guarantees." He Yadong said.

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