Foreign Investors Confident on Hunan's Manufacturing Industry

Foreign investors have shown appetite for Hunan's manufacturing industry.

The Information Office of Hunan Provincial People's Government held a press conference in Changsha on January 8, announcing that during the January-November period of 2024, Hunan's total use of foreign investment reached 4.33 billion USD. The actual use of foreign capital in manufacturing sector increased by 12.5% year on year, with its proportion in the total raising to 64.1%.

The German Small & Medium Enterprises Cluster Zone (Hunan) are inaugurated in Changsha on July 11, 2024. A batch of cooperative projects are signed on the site. (Photo/Lu Yi)

Regionally, the actual use of foreign capital in the Dongting Lake area increased by 122.1% over the previous year, accounting for 24.8% of the provincial total. The three cities in southern Hunan and the greater western Hunan regions have further unleashed the potential of investment attraction, with their proportions raising to 21.5% and 14.4% respectively.

In 2024, Bosch, Schaeffler, and other international giants which have committed to Hunan for years further increased their investments in the province. As the German Small & Medium Enterprises Cluster Zone (Hunan) was established in the Xiangjiang New Area, an array of projects including the Sino-European Procurement Platform and the Steinbeis Technology Transfer Center were signed. Several key manufacturing projects were implemented, such as the OSTech electro-optic display project of South Korea. Hunan has gained the confidence of foreign investors.

Statistics showed that, between January and November 2024, Hunan set up 388 new foreign-funded enterprises, with new contracted foreign investment of 1.78 billion USD. There are 212 Fortune Global 500 enterprises starting business in Hunan.

As a key national hub of advanced manufacturing, Hunan has fostered five national-level advanced manufacturing industrial clusters—construction machinery in Changsha; rail transit equipment in Zhuzhou; medium and small aircraft engines in Zhuzhou; new-generation independent secure computing system in Changsha; and, Hengyang-Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan UHV Power Transmission and Transformation Equipment. The number of the businesses over designated size remains at more than 20,000.