Zhang Jinsong, the director of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, stated in Guangzhou on the 23rd that in 2023, Guangdong established 1,078 new foreign-invested manufacturing enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 29.9%. The actual use of foreign investment in manufacturing was 49.22 billion yuan (RMB, same below), up 11.7% year-on-year, accounting for 30.9% of the province’s total actual use of foreign investment. This marks the first time since 2019 that the proportion of actual foreign investment used in manufacturing in the province has rebounded to more than 30%, reaching a new high in nearly five years.
According to China News Service, the second session of the 14th Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress held a special press conference for provincial departments on the same day. Zhang Jinsong also said that in 2023, Guangdong’s high-tech manufacturing industry saw a rapid increase in foreign investment, attracting 25.09 billion yuan in total, a significant increase of 40.5% year-on-year, accounting for 51% of the total foreign investment in manufacturing. Industries such as ultra-high-definition imaging display, precision instruments and equipment, and semiconductors and integrated circuits (ICs) saw actual foreign investment increase by 2.5 times, 1.8 times, and 1.5 times, respectively.
Last year, a number of high-level foreign R&D centers in the manufacturing sector, including the ZF South China R&D Center and the Apple Greater Bay Area Innovation Center, were established in Guangdong, bringing the total number of foreign R&D centers in the province to 403. Meanwhile, actual investment from developed countries and regions such as Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea in Guangdong’s manufacturing sector reached 12.89 billion yuan, up 51.7% year-on-year.
Zhang Jinsong stated that the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province will increase policy support to attract more large and high-quality foreign investment projects in manufacturing, contributing to the high-quality economic development of Guangdong Province.
It is reported that the “Regulations on Promoting High-Quality Development of Manufacturing in Guangdong Province,” deliberated and passed by the eighth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress recently, stipulates that the People’s Government of Guangdong Province and relevant departments should expand the space for opening up, deepen the fields of opening up, guide foreign investment towards advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries, and support manufacturing enterprises in expanding international markets. These regulations will come into effect on March 1, 2024.