New infrastructure leads major foreign-funded projects to accelerate their landing
Foreign investment is welcoming multiple favorable policies. Recently, a series of measures to stabilize foreign investment have been introduced intensively in China, and major foreign investment projects have been launched one after another, among which new infrastructure has become one of the key support areas. An interview with the Economic Information Daily reporter learned that with the continuous release of a series of favorable signals and the increasing support of land use and financing, many multinational enterprises will further promote the layout of artificial intelligence, industrial Internet and other fields, and major foreign-funded projects are welcoming the climax. It is worth noting that the support measures are still overweight, focusing on encouraging foreign investment in high-tech industries and R&D links, filling the shortcomings of the industrial chain and activating more innovative kinetic energy.
At the beginning of the second half of the year, Urumqi signed a cooperation agreement with Siemens Industrial Software (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. to jointly build a new infrastructure innovation base for China-Europe digital industry. The innovation base will rely on Siemens’ resources in the fields of intelligent manufacturing and industrial internet to build a platform for technological innovation, intelligent manufacturing services, talent cultivation and innovation acceleration in the fields of intelligent manufacturing, new energy and industrial internet.
On June 30th, SAP, the largest software company in Europe, signed a contract with Shandong Laiwu High-tech Zone, and the SAP Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation and Empowerment Industrial Park project landed. The project plans to invest 200 million yuan to establish a digital innovation empowerment center, a digital industry and service platform, a dual-recruitment and dual-introduction platform and a digital talent platform. A few days ago, Intel announced that it would join hands with Nanjing to build a "Future Science and Technology Wisdom Center". The two sides will gradually build a smart park and promote applications such as smart buildings, smart offices, smart manufacturing, smart transportation and intelligent robots.
The reporter also learned that a number of multinational companies such as Qualcomm and Schneider Electric are also optimistic about the huge market potential released by China’s acceleration of new infrastructure, which will accelerate the layout of this field.
Recently, Qualcomm Venture Capital invested in three China companies, covering Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and 5G applications. Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm in China, told the Economic Information Daily that leading technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence will promote the efficient coordination among production factors and release the "multiplier effect" for social development. Qualcomm is actively seizing more opportunities for integrated infrastructure construction under the new infrastructure, cooperating with a wider range of industry partners, and empowering industries such as industrial Internet, intelligent transportation, intelligent manufacturing and smart cities through technology and innovation.
Schneider Electric and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited have just signed a "cloud contract" and reached a strategic partnership. According to the agreement, the two sides will cooperate in the fields of green smart factories, new energy power generation, safe electricity use and energy storage. Andrew, global executive vice president of Schneider Electric and president of China, told reporters that he is optimistic about China’s digital economy prospects, which is also in line with Schneider Electric’s vision of promoting digital transformation in China. Previously, Schneider Electric increased its investment in Xiamen, and plans to expand R&D and increase production lines in the next three to five years to produce a new generation of digital green electrical products.
Li Qiang, global vice president of SAP and general manager of China, said that he is very much looking forward to the opportunities created by the new infrastructure in China market. In an interview with the Economic Information Daily, Li Qiang said that SAP has launched a digital transformation solution covering 25 industries, and will use the company’s products, technologies and services to support customers to accelerate digital transformation and help the government and enterprises to build new infrastructure for the future.
The entry of foreign businessmen into the market also contributed to the signing of local batch foreign investment projects. On July 22nd, 54 foreign-funded projects were signed in Shanghai, 15 of which involved new infrastructure, covering network technology, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, integrated circuits and other industries. Prior to this, Kunshan ushered in the centralized landing of major projects, involving 33 major projects in high-end equipment manufacturing, optical communication, headquarters economy, new materials and other fields, including 16 foreign-funded projects.
At the national level, the National Development and Reform Commission recently launched the fourth batch of major foreign investment projects, involving electronic information, new materials and other fields, on the basis of promoting the first three batches of major foreign investment projects. "The successive landing of these major foreign-funded projects shows the strong confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in China’s development." Yuan Da, director and spokesperson of the Policy Research Office of the National Development and Reform Commission, said.
The latest data of foreign capital absorption in China once again confirms this good trend. Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that in the month of July, the actual amount of foreign capital used nationwide was 63.47 billion yuan, up 15.8% year-on-year, achieving a positive growth in foreign capital absorption in a single month for the fourth consecutive month. Zong Changqing, director of the Foreign Investment Management Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said that from January to July this year, 18,838 foreign enterprises were newly established in China. During the period, large foreign-funded projects continued to land, with foreign-funded projects of more than 100 million US dollars accounting for 68%. Many multinational companies such as ExxonMobil, BMW, Toyota and Invista have continuously increased their investment in China and accelerated their layout in China.
In an interview with the Economic Information Daily, Zhu Keli, executive director of the National Research Institute of New Economics, pointed out that China’s new infrastructure is becoming a new opportunity for foreign-funded enterprises to invest in China under the background of the world economic recession since the outbreak of the epidemic, and the trillions of new infrastructure and huge market are bound to attract foreign-funded enterprises. Encouraging foreign-funded enterprises to increase investment in new infrastructure has a predictable positive effect on stabilizing foreign investment, further improving industrial competitiveness and opening up the double cycle.
It is worth noting that the policy continues to increase, and foreign investment will gain more benefits in terms of fiscal and taxation financial support, as well as the protection of land use, energy consumption and other factors. On August 12th, the General Office of the State Council issued "Opinions on Further Improving the Work of Stabilizing Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), clearly increasing the support services for key foreign investment projects. A list of key foreign-funded projects with an investment of more than 100 million US dollars nationwide will be sorted out, and in the early stage, under construction and put into production, domestic and foreign investors will be treated equally to increase the service guarantee in terms of sea use, land use, energy consumption and environmental protection. At the same time, encourage more foreign investment in high-tech industries. At the subsequent policy briefing of the State Council Office, Ren Hongbin, Assistant Minister of Commerce, pointed out that the Opinions encouraged foreign investment in high-tech industries and R&D links to fill the shortcomings of the industrial chain.
In addition, the 2020 edition of the Catalogue of Industries to Encourage Foreign Investment has also begun to solicit public opinions. From the perspective of fields, foreign investment will be further encouraged to participate in the high-quality development of manufacturing industry, and foreign investment will be encouraged to invest in producer services. Among them, R&D design, modern logistics, information services and other fields have become the focus of catalogue expansion.
"The active participation of foreign-funded enterprises in new infrastructure is expected to have a catfish effect, and competition and cooperation can promote the common improvement of the operating level of various market entities including Chinese-funded enterprises." Zhu Keli said that with the intensive policy support of various departments, the confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in laying out new infrastructure has been further boosted, thus amplifying the competition pattern and development potential of new infrastructure, especially artificial intelligence and industrial Internet.
Meng Pu said that enterprises in all fields should put the effectiveness and quality of investment and development in the first place and integrate leading technology into the global value chain. Especially in the face of the great opportunity of "new infrastructure", the global industrial chain should pay more attention to how to deepen cooperation and coordinate development. (Reporter Wang Wenbo Guo Qian)