Society

Chengdu attracts record investments

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-05-10 16:33

With rich natural resources and a huge labor force, Chengdu has become a magnet for domestic and foreign companies expanding their reach by building new business bases in the Sichuan province city.

In 2010, Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Co announced plans to hire 100,000 people and invest $5 billion to build a new Chengdu production base. Upon completion of the project, Foxconn’s annual business income is expected to reach $37.5 billion, 1.6 times that of Sichuan province’s entire electronic information industry in 2009.

Other Taiwan-based companies investing in Chengdu this year include Taiwan Compal Group and Wistron Group. Compal, a laptop computer manufacturer, began construction in January on facilities in Chengdu expected to produce 10 million laptops by the end of 2011 and 20 million by 2013. In February, with a total investment of $500 million, construction began on a Wistron Group facility that the electronics manufacturer said is expected to produce 10 million units by the end of 2012 and 40 million by 2016.

The city, which also is home to a US-based Cisco Systems Inc facility, welcomed a total of 374 major projects last year, including US-based Texas Instruments and US-based Dell Inc.

Other businesses such as Taiwan Glass, Yadong Cement, Taiwan Unif, Taiwan Teco Group and Chicony Group already have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Chengdu area operations. made total investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in Sichuan province. Ting Hisin International Group, makers of Master Kong instant noodles, invested $150 million to establish its largest instant noodles and drinking water production base in Chengdu.

Taiwan Unif recently invested $200 million to complete Phase III of a beverage plant. Taiwan Glass is investing $160 million in a glass fiber cloth project that is nearing the start of construction. Far Eastern Group and MiTAC/SYNNEX Group also have increased their investments to expand existing production lines.

A strong investment climate also is being cited as a factor fueling Chengdu’s growth. Chengdu in 2010 reported $6.41 billion in actually utilized foreign capital and 193.23 billion yuan in actual utilized domestic capital. Forbes magazine in 2010 listed Chengdu as the fastest-growing city in the world, citing the power-house corporate names investing in the city. Chengdu’s total imports and exports in 2010 totaled $24.66 billion, an increase of 38.6 percent over the previous year’s numbers.