Innovation, tech major draws for FDI

Technology and innovation are playing a growing role in bolstering China's appeal among foreign investors, while Chinese enterprises are accelerating their footprint overseas in green and clean-tech industries, experts and business leaders said on Wednesday.

They made the comments at a transnational investment trends conference during the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, Fujian province. The event featured the release of the Statistical Bulletin of FDI in China 2026 and the Chinese edition of the 2026 World Investment Report.

These structural shifts come amid an uneven global investment recovery. Global FDI rose 6 percent to $1.6 trillion in 2025, but growth remained highly concentrated across specific destinations and industries, said Li Nan, director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise at the United Nations Trade and Development.

Strategic industries, including artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, critical minerals, and energy transition technologies and services, accounted for 44 percent of global greenfield investment project value in 2025, up from 16 percent in 2020, Li said, adding that China remains a major destination and source of international investment, with foreign investment increasingly directed toward advanced manufacturing, technological innovation and modern services.

The Ministry of Commerce said China's utilized foreign investment fell 6.2 percent year-on-year to 438.33 billion yuan ($65.34 billion) in the first seven months. However, inflows into high-tech industries rose 32.7 percent to 182.31 billion yuan, accounting for 41.6 percent of the total. Meanwhile, 37,711 new foreign-invested enterprises were established nationwide during the same period, up 4.4 percent year-on-year.

Pan Yuanyuan, senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the value of foreign investment extends beyond capital injections to research and development, technology, sales networks and management expertise. Foreign-invested enterprises have become an important part of China's innovation system.

Switzerland-based ABB's operations illustrate the importance of local production and innovation. Dong Huijuan, global vice-president of ABB Group, said China is the company's second-largest market, with locally manufactured products, systems and services accounting for about 85 percent of its sales revenue in the country.

The company's China teams lead or participate in the development of numerous new products, Dong said.

On outward investment, Li said Chinese companies are expanding battery, electric vehicle and related manufacturing projects in Europe and developing economies, supporting local clean technology capacity and regional supply chains.

Wu Huimin, executive dean of the China International Capital Corp Global Institute, said companies should bring innovation capabilities and management experience gained overseas back to China to help prevent industrial hollowing-out and strengthen the domestic foundations of outward investment.

Zhang Yihao from Warburg Pincus emphasized disciplined expansion, saying the firm would continue bringing long-term capital and global resources to China while supporting companies in selectively entering overseas markets.

"Global expansion itself is not the goal. What truly matters is creating long-term, sustainable value in markets where companies have their strongest competitive advantages," Zhang said.