BRI turns Xi'an into foreign investment, manufacturing hub

The Belt and Road Initiative has transformed Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, into a manufacturing and service hub for the initiative as well as a hot spot in attracting foreign direct investment, said officials and experts.

Their comments came after both global and home companies signed agreements to invest 213.97 billion yuan ($31.12 billion) in the city to develop businesses in areas such as modern manufacturing, service, logistics, new material, healthcare, 5G infrastructure and global commodity trade platform development during the Xi'an Investment Environment Promotion Conference held from May 11 and 15.

Under its plan, Chinese internet search giant Baidu Inc will build a cloud computing center in Xi'an. It will be Baidu's largest data center in western China and build its industrial chain involving companies from electronic components and hardware equipment manufacturing sectors, basic software, platform and application software research and development.