Heavyweight foreign capital intensively "increases positions" in Shenzhen
In the first two months, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in our city increased by approximately 30% year-on-year.
Shenzhen Special Economic Zone reporter Wu Yanan
In recent times, foreign investment has been making frequent moves in Shenzhen. STMicroelectronics’ Packaging and Testing Innovation Center has settled in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone in Hetao, Kasikornbank opened a new headquarters for China in Luohu, Germany’s Hexagon South China manufacturing base was registered in Longhua, and Costco’s first store in South China opened to welcome customers... The implementation of projects one after another and the signing of cooperation contracts again and again demonstrate that multinational companies continue to be optimistic about Shenzhen's development prospects and actively embrace new opportunities.
Data show that in the first two months of this year, 1,121 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in the city, a year-on-year increase of 29.8%, accounting for 15.7% of the country; the city’s actual use of foreign capital was 7.04 billion yuan, accounting for 32.0% of the province.
“Shenzhen Innovation” attracts foreign investment
Recently, Apple announced that it will expand its investment in China. It will establish a new applied research laboratory in Shenzhen this year, with an expected investment of more than 1 billion yuan. It will mainly carry out hardware development, intelligent manufacturing and joint research and development business with local suppliers to enhance its understanding of iPhone, Testing and research capabilities for products such as iPad and Apple Vision Pro.
This is also Apple’s further “investment” in Shenzhen after the layout of China’s second R&D center in Shenzhen in 2016.
From production in Shenzhen in the past to R&D in Shenzhen now, Apple’s change in investment strategy in Shenzhen stems from the city’s continuous improvement in innovation capabilities. In fact, this is one of the important reasons why Shenzhen has become a "must compete" for more and more heavyweight foreign investment.
The latest "City of Opportunity 2024" report released by the China Development Research Foundation and PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that Shenzhen ranks third overall. Among them, Shenzhen ranks first in the two dimensions of "technology and innovation" and "business environment". It is worth noting that in the "business-friendly environment" dimension, Shenzhen has maintained the first place for three consecutive years, and in the "technology and innovation" dimension, it has led the country for six consecutive years.
The vigorous innovation power has led foreign capital to cast a "real-money" "vote of confidence" in Shenzhen and accelerate the establishment of R&D centers and innovation centers in Shenzhen.
Intel and the Shenzhen Municipal Government jointly built the flagship Greater Bay Area Technology Innovation Center, Starbucks China Innovation and Technology Center was located in Shenzhen, Sanofi chose Shenzhen to deploy the Greater Bay Area International Vaccine Innovation Center, Siemens Energy Shenzhen Innovation Center was unveiled, and ABB Global Open Innovation The center has landed in Shenzhen Bay... At present, Shenzhen has gathered 15 of the world's top foreign-funded scientific research and technical service companies, including 11 Fortune 2022 World Top 500 companies and two world-renowned power semiconductor manufacturers, involving intellectual property services, Inspection and testing, strategic consulting, aerospace, biomedicine, high-end equipment manufacturing, chip manufacturing and design and other fields.
Take the initiative to expand the overseas "Peng Friendship Circle"
Shenzhen regards attracting investment as an important measure to gather global resources. It takes the initiative to focus on the "20+8" industrial cluster and "knock on doors to attract investment" around the world to tap the potential for cooperation.
Since the beginning of this year, delegations from Futian, Longhua, Pingshan and other districts have gone overseas with investment plans and projects to carry out "double recruitment and double attraction", and their footprints have spread to Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other countries and regions. , focusing on new energy, biomedicine, fashion industry, high-end medical equipment, artificial intelligence, low-altitude economy, finance and other fields to carry out economic and trade exchanges, and achieved a series of positive results.
Accurate investment promotion brings great rewards. The Futian District delegation discussed with the City of London to establish a financial technology innovation cooperation mechanism, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the China-Britain Business Council on strengthening two-way corporate investment exchanges; the Oxford International Biomedical Empowerment Center will be located in the Loop Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone More than 5 biopharmaceutical projects have been implemented, involving a market size of over 100 billion yuan. Longhua Industrial Capital Investment Co., Ltd. and Dasfly Investment, a company specializing in smart cities and autonomous driving, signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement. The two parties will conduct all-round and in-depth cooperation in the fields of flying cars and new energy to explore a new "Longhua Model." Pingshan has signed a cooperation agreement with Yingxin Microgrid to carry out in-depth cooperation in the fields of solar photovoltaics, energy storage equipment and the commercial application of smart microgrid systems. The Chinese headquarters of Yingxin Microgrid will be located in Pingshan in the future.
Thick planting of fertile soil strengthens the confidence of foreign businessmen in further development
On March 25, the "Foreign Investment Incentive Measures in Qianhai" was officially implemented. By increasing incentives, optimizing policy services and other measures, it will further promote the stabilization, expansion and quality improvement of foreign investment, and support the development of foreign-invested enterprises in Qianhai. The introduction of this policy is just one of the specific measures taken by Shenzhen to continuously improve its foreign investment policies and laws and foreign investment promotion service system, and strengthen the confidence of foreign investors in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen has always insisted on optimizing the business environment as its "No. 1 reform project", proactively benchmarking the best and the strongest, taking the needs of market entities as the guide, iteratively introducing a series of pragmatic measures, and continuing to create a market-oriented, legal, and The international business environment will create a preferred place for foreign investment with a higher degree of economic export, a better atmosphere for entrepreneurship, innovation and creation, and a stronger ability to participate in international activities.
Recently, the "Shenzhen Business Environment Reform and Innovation Research Report 2023" released by PwC China and the Shenzhen Federation of Industry and Commerce (General Chamber of Commerce) pointed out that Shenzhen's business environment reform and innovation presents five new characteristics, namely global benchmarking and local practice Combining macro-promotion with micro-blockade relief, enterprise concerns with problem orientation, inclusive policies with refined services, and institutional sinking with technological convenience.
"Shenzhen's open, inclusive and innovative business environment impressed me deeply." The person in charge of Aijiexu (China) Investment Co., Ltd. said that Shenzhen has a gathering of talents, a complete supply chain, and attaches great importance to intellectual property and innovation. The company has The investment in Shenzhen exceeds 2.5 billion yuan and we will continue to develop together with Shenzhen in the future.
Currently, Shenzhen is studying and improving relevant policies to attract foreign investment, further optimizing the foreign investment environment, and increasing efforts to attract foreign investment. At the same time, we will actively improve the level of investment cooperation, strengthen foreign investment promotion and service guarantees, implement the roundtable system for foreign-invested enterprises, and continue to maintain regular exchanges with foreign business associations in China and foreign-invested enterprises to further boost the confidence of foreign investors in Shenzhen. (Shenzhen Special Zone News)