Guangzhou becomes No.1 destination of investments in South China

Guangzhou becomes No.1destination of investments in South China

According to the 2018 White Paper on the Business Environment in China and the 2018Special Report on the State of Business in South China released by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, sources still prefer Chinese 1st-tiercities, namely, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, for reinvestments among all the cities in the Chinese mainland. More importantly, in the ranking of44 Chinese cities, Guangzhou topped the list to become the most preferred city for investments for the first time.

Guangzhou is evaluated as an “established international financial center” for the first time

According to The Global Financial Centers Index (“GFCI”) 23 report compiled by British think tank Z/Yen Group, Guangzhou has been included in its list for three years in a row and ranks in the 28th place across the world. Besides, in terms of the five factors of competitiveness, Guangzhou’s rankings have significantly improved in business environment, human capital, infrastructure and reputation.

City with a local GDP of over CNY 2 trillion

In 2017, Guangzhou’s annual gross domestic product (“GDP”) exceeded CNY 2 trillion by hitting CNY 2,150,315million, up 7.0% year over year, implying that Guangzhou ranks now among the top 20 cities in the world in terms of economic aggregate, and that Guangzhou is equivalent to such moderately developed countries as Singapore and Israel in terms of global economic influence.

Guangzhou continues topping its peers in Guangdong province in terms of satisfaction with the environment of government affairs

According to the 2017 investigation and research reports on local service-oriented governments of Guangdong province released by the Guangdong Provincial Conditions Investigation and Research Center, Guangzhou continues outperforming its peers in the province in terms of satisfaction with the environment of government affairs.

Taine CBD of Guangzhou ranks in the first place among all state-level CBDs

According to the Blue Paper on Central Business Districts: Report on the Development of Chinese Central Business Districts No.3 (2016 –2017) jointly released by the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Social Sciences Academic Press,Tianhe CBD of Guangzhou, Futian CBD of Shenzhen and Beijing CBD are the top three CBDs in China in GDP terms. Among them, Tianhe CBD of Guangzhou ranks in the first place among all state-level CBDs.

The manufacturing sector advancing to the medium-range and high-end segments

In 2017, the added values of advanced manufacturing industries and strategic emerging industries increased 11.5% and 10.0% year over year respectively.

The GDP of the equipment manufacturing industry grew 10.9% year over year, accounting for 47.7% of the gross output value of the industrial enterprises above the designated size in Guangzhou.

The railway transportation manufacturing industry grew 9.1% year over year.

The urban rail transportation equipment manufacturing industry grew 32.2%year over year.

The medical instruments and equipment manufacturing industry grew 13.8%year over year.

The environmental protection-oriented equipment manufacturing industry grew33.7%.

Along with the rapid development of smart, green and high-end industries, the annual outputs of such emerging products as new energy vehicles, optoelectronic devices, liquid crystal displays, industrial automatic regulating instruments and control systems and industrial robots have grown rather fast, up 55.0%,58.3%, 13.7%, 37.6% and 21.0% year over year respectively.

As the production scales of a number of high and new technological products in development, such as civilian drones and environmental protection and healthcare equipment, are gradually expanding, new momentum for development is actively accumulating.

A number of big projects being established in Guangzhou one after another

In 2017, more than 150 big projects were introduced to Guangzhou, including the Baoneng New Energy Vehicles Industrial Park, the China Electronic Technology Group Corporation (“CETC”) South China Electronic Information Industrial Park, the Skyworth Smart Industry Innovation Base, GMR Semiconductor,Alibaba South China Operation Center…

Among others, five advanced manufacturing projects boasted an investment of more than CNY 10 billion. After these projects start operation, their incremental output value is expected to exceed CNY 300 billion in aggregate.

Guangzhou has also attracted a number of headquarters projects, including SIASUN Robot’s Southern China Headquarters Base & the Guangzhou International Robots Industrial Park, the South China Headquarters of TCL Corporation, the South China Headquarters Base of the China Automobile Technology and Research Center, the Guangzhou Base of Sanyi Group, IROOTECH’s National Headquarters, IFLYTEK’s South China Headquarters…

A few key projects have started construction one after another as well, including Foxconn’s full ecological industrial park for manufacturing its10.5-generation displays, LG’s 8.5-generation OLED project and GAC’intelligent connected alternative energy vehicles industrial park. After these three projects start production, their incremental output value is expected to exceed CNY 300 billion in aggregate.

A total number of 2,459 foreign invested enterprises were newly approved in Guangzhou with USD 13,391 million of capital to be paid in by foreign investors under contracts, up 35.3% year over year.  

The actually used direct foreign investments amounted to USD 6,289 million, up 10.3% year over year.

There were a total of 78 large projects, each of which involved investments of more than USD 50 million. The capital to be paid in by their foreign investors under contracts reached USD 9,523 million, up 37.1% year over year.

Another eight Global 500 enterprises invested in Guangzhou in the year, bringing the number of Global 500 enterprises that have invested in the city to297.

Another 109 projects invested in Guangzhou in the year, driving the total number of projects that have invested in Guangzhou up to 921.

New forms of businesses accelerating to offer momentum

In 2017, the total retail sales of online stores above the designated size grew 19.3%, 11.3 percentage points higher than the total retail sales of consumable goods.

Imports and exports of new operating forms of cross-border e-commerce amounted to CNY 22,770 million, up 55.1% year over year.

The annual courier volume hit 3,933 million pieces, up 37.2% year overyear.

Innovations and startups generate momentum simultaneously

In 2017, an additional 40,000 scientific and technological innovations-based enterprises were registered, bringing the total number of such enterprises in the city to 169,000. The net increase of high and new technological companies stood around 4,000, while the total number of high and new technological companies surpassed 8,700 in the city.

In Guangzhou, 1,188 enterprises have implemented intellectual property standards and passed intellectual property certifications, making the city outperforming all other cities in China in this field. In 2017, a total of 118,332 patents were applied in Guangzhou, up 33.3% year over year. Among others, 36,941 patents for invention were applied, up 29.5% year over year; a total of 2,441 PCTapplications were submitted, up 48.7% year over year; and a total of 9,345patents for invention were authorized, up 21.9% year over year.

As a leading city in the Pearl River Delta National Demonstration District of Independent Innovations, Guangzhou boasts 70% of scientists and technicians and 95% PhD holders of Guangdong province. As of October 2017, six Nobel laureates and 77 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering (35 academicians worked on a full-time basis here)worked in Guangzhou. Besides, 281 experts of China’s Thousand Talents Plan and95 experts of the country’s Ten Thousand Talents Plan also worked in the city, accounting for 53.2% and 79.2% of those working in Guangdong province respectively.

In the meantime, Guangzhou also hosts 28 new research and development organizations, 813 engineering technological research and development centers (including18 state-level centers and 548 province-level centers) and 337 key laboratories(including 17 state-level laboratories and 196 province-level laboratories). In terms of number of research and development organizations, Guangzhou ranks in the first place in Guangdong province. More than half of the scientific and technological innovations in Guangdong province that have received national or provincial scientific and technological awards are made in the city. Besides, the biggest cluster of incubators of scientific and technological enterprises in South China also lies in Guangzhou.

So far, a total of 164 crowd creation spaces (including 53 state-level spaces) and 261 incubators (including 26 state-level incubators) have been established in the city, covering a total area of 9.09 million square meters. In terms of number of outstanding state-level incubators, Guangzhou has ranked among the leading cities in China for three years in a row.

Today, Guangzhou is striving to build a Big Dipper-shaped corridor of scientific and technological innovations and establish a central axis of innovative developments. Besides, the city is also focusing on IAB and NEM industries, and creating a high-end quality system of high and new industries. Such key projects as Foxconn’s full ecological industrial park for manufacturing its10.5-generation displays, LG’s 8.5-generation OLED project and Cisco’s Smart City project have already started construction.

As the environment for innovations and startups keeps improving, Guangzhou has ranked as the leading city in the Chinese mainland for two consecutive years in the evaluation of the “Chinese City of Opportunity”. When measured by the willingness of the returned overseas Chinese to work in the city, Guangzhou ranks in the second place in China.