Weekly Highlights of Global Investment | Issue 76, June 29, 2024

Brief

A delegation of business and former political leaders from the Midwest region of the United States visited China；China's pilot visa free policy for New Zealand, Australia, and Poland；Airbus Tianjin's second final assembly line is expected to be put into operation in early 2026；China's AI big models are intensively going global；The People's Bank of China helped Xi 'an build a demonstration zone for payment services for overseas guests；Volkswagen to invest $5 billion in American electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian；Reckitt to establish a global excellence research and development center in Shanghai；Great Wall Motors plans to build new factories in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam this year and next；The fourth phase of Continental's tire plant in China was officially put into operation；Ansemy to invest $2 billion to expand Czech chip factory；Infineon to establish a research and development center in Taiwan；Cainiao opens seven cross-border merchant centers to tailor international express delivery services for small and medium-sized businesses；Mingchuang Youpin's flagship store in Champs - Élysées, France opened, with a daily turnover exceeding 570000 yuan；BYD Mexico plant site has entered the final stage of negotiations.

Policy and Industry  Dynamics

A delegation of business and former political leaders from the Midwest region of the United States visited China

From June 23 to 28, a delegation of business leaders and former political leaders from the Midwest region of the United States, led by Eric Branstad, former Senior White House Adviser of the US Department of Commerce, and Pin Ni, President of the China General Chamber of Commerce USA in Chicago, visited China. The delegation includes former political leaders of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Chicago, and heads of more than 10 enterprises and institutions, covering many fields in the fields of consulting, law, construction, new energy and so on.

The delegation visited Shanghai and Qingdao, and met with relevant departments of commerce of the two places to focus on the concerns of Chinese and American enterprises. Centering on the industrial advantages of the city, the urban areas were closely linked, and a series of business docking research activities were scheduled for the delegation, such as the Sino-American enterprise exchange meeting and visits to well-known Chinese enterprises, so as to promote in-depth interaction between Chinese and American representatives.

China's pilot visa free policy for New Zealand, Australia, and Poland

On June 25th, in order to further promote the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel, China decided to expand the scope of visa free countries and implement a visa free policy for individuals holding ordinary passports in three countries: New Zealand, Australia, and Poland. From July 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025, individuals holding ordinary passports from the aforementioned countries who come to China for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and transit for no more than 15 days are eligible for visa free entry. Individuals from the aforementioned countries who do not meet the visa exemption requirements still need to apply for a visa to China before entering the country.

Airbus Tianjin's second final assembly line is expected to be put into operation in early 2026

On June 27th, according to Xu Gang, Airbus Global Executive Vice President and CEO of Airbus China, the construction of Airbus Tianjin's second final assembly line is steadily progressing and is expected to be put into operation in early 2026. The company will have 10 single aisle aircraft final assembly lines worldwide, and the two final assembly lines located in Tianjin will make an important contribution to Airbus's global capacity enhancement plan.

China's AI big models are intensively going global

On June 24th, according to foreign media reports, Dark Moon Company is preparing to enter the US market and is committed to developing products recently launched in the US, including an AI role-playing chat application and a music video generator. Mature enterprises such as Wenqi, Wanxing Technology, and Hehe Information also focus on showcasing AIGC applications in their overseas business. Some entrepreneurial teams started directly overseas, such as HeyGen, an AI video generation company founded in Shenzhen and later relocated to the United States.

The People's Bank of China helped Xi 'an build a demonstration zone for payment services for overseas guests

On June 13-14, the People's Bank of China organized a meeting to promote the optimization of payment services, aiming to facilitate travel and provide services such as food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, and medical services, to help domestic and foreign tourists travel freely in Xi'an, and to build Xi'an into a world-class tourist destination for international cultural exchange and inheritance of Chinese culture. 

Xi'an is highly welcomed by overseas tourists, and the Shaanxi Branch of Bank of China has quickly built a demonstration area and service center for overseas guest payment services at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. Overseas visitors to China can use the Bank of China POS machine at six manual ticket counters (including the city center) at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport to swipe foreign cards for ticket purchases, achieving seamless payment convenience between the airport and the city center.

MNCs Global Investment

Volkswagen will invest $5 billion in American electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian

On June 26th, foreign media reported that Europe's largest automaker, Volkswagen, is collaborating with American electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian to develop next-generation car software and plans to invest up to $5 billion. Accelerate the software development of Volkswagen Group and Rivian, whose technology will form the foundation of future electric vehicle model software. These vehicles are planned to be launched before 2030.

On June 25th, Reckitt announced the establishment of a global excellence research and development center in Shanghai. The new center is located in the Caohejing High tech Park in Shanghai, covering an area of over 8000 square meters and is expected to be put into operation in 2026. The total investment exceeds 300 million yuan, which will support the development of all Li Jie Shi brands in China, including Durex, Didi, Movefree, and Finish. Kris Licht, CEO of Richter&Gamble, said, "China is one of Richter&Gamble's largest markets with strong growth and momentum. Designing for China in China is the core of our long-term strategy, aimed at meeting the growing needs of Chinese consumers and supporting their cleaner and healthier lifestyles."

Great Wall Motors plans to build new factories in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam this year and next

On June 24th, according to the Singapore Business Times, Cheng Jinkui, the ASEAN Regional President of Great Wall Motors, stated in an interview that the company plans to build new factories in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam this year and next. Cheng Jinkui revealed that Great Wall Motors is collaborating with Malaysia's EP Manufacturing to seek assembly of products in Malacca, with production expected to begin as early as July. Indonesian assembly plants are expected to start production in July or August this year. According to the plan, the Vietnamese factory will achieve local assembly next year. Cheng Jinkui stated that the company believes that its investment in ASEAN is still in its early stages and is expected to make more progress.

The fourth phase of Continental's tire plant in China was officially put into operation

On June 24th, it was reported that as the first and only fully foreign-funded tire production base of the German Continental Group in China, the Continental Continental Tire Hefei Factory located in Hefei, Anhui Province, held a fourth phase project official production ceremony on June 20th. It is expected that by the end of 2027, the factory's annual production capacity will increase to 18 million passenger car and light truck tires per year. At present, Continental Group has 23 production bases and 28 research and development centers in China, with a total of approximately 17600 employees.

Ansemy plans to invest $2 billion to expand Czech chip factory

On June 24th, it was announced that Ansemy plans to complete a brownfield investment of up to $2 billion within a few years to expand its silicon carbide production capacity. Ansemy collaborates with the government of the Czech Republic to develop incentive programs to support the implementation of investment plans. This investment will become one of the largest private enterprise investment projects in the history of the Czech Republic, and is one of the first investment projects in the advanced semiconductor manufacturing field in Central Europe.

Infineon will establish a research and development center in Taiwan

On June 24th, it was announced that Infineon will establish a research and development center in Taiwan to transfer the new generation of Bluetooth chip technology for vehicles to Taiwan for research and production, with a total budget of NT $1.2 billion. The Taiwan economic department predicts that this move will lead to Infineon investing NT $2.7 billion in Taiwan and driving the upstream and downstream industries of electric vehicles in Taiwan to reach NT $60 billion in output value.

Cainiao opens seven cross-border merchant centers to tailor international express delivery services for small and medium-sized businesses

On June 24th, Cainiao announced plans to establish seven cross-border business centers throughout the year, radiating to 20 industrial belts across the country, with its first stop in Yiwu. By strengthening the construction of local service teams and tailoring high cost-effective international express delivery solutions for small and medium-sized overseas merchants, logistics costs can be saved by up to 5-10%. The Cainiao International Express team will rely on a localized merchant center to provide customized logistics services for local small and medium-sized merchants, such as one click entry for merchants and integration with multiple ERP systems; In addition, facing the problem of door-to-door collection, Cainiao's "one piece collection" can cover more than 100 cities across the country, and there is no minimum collection quantity limit.

Mingchuang Youpin's flagship store in Champs - Élysées, France opened, with a daily turnover exceeding 570000 yuan

On June 22nd, MINISO's flagship store in Champs - É lys é es, France opened. On the first day of opening, the store achieved a high performance of 576800 RMB, once again breaking the overseas single day performance record. It is understood that entering the Fragrant Street in Paris is an important step in the deepening layout of Miniso's globalization. Under the guidance of globalization strategy, Miniso's overseas market continues to grow. Data shows that in 2023, the GMV of Miniso in the European market increased by nearly 70% year-on-year; In the first quarter of 2024, the GMV of the European market increased by over 80% year-on-year.

BYD Mexico plant site has entered the final stage of negotiations

On June 21st, Jorge Vallejo, the general manager of BYD Mexico, stated that BYD is in final negotiations on the location of its factory and is expected to officially announce it in the coming months. Meanwhile, BYD's sales in Mexico are expected to reach 50000 units this year. BYD's plan to build a factory in Mexico will bring about 10000 jobs to the local area, making it on par with the largest domestic car factories in Mexico.

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