Chinese innovation hub sees surge in overseas-funded firms

SHENZHEN -- Shenzhen, a city emerging as China's leading innovation hub, saw the arrival of many new overseas-funded companies last year, local authorities said on Saturday.

More than 11,000 such firms, including many with investment from Hong Kong, were registered in Shenzhen last year, nearly twice the number in2016, according to Shenzhen enterprise registration bureau.

Shenzhen in Guangdong province has transformed from a tiny fishing enclave in the 1970s to one of China's most flourishing cities filled with successful tech companies and startups.

The growth of overseas investment is partly the result of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which is not yet in operation. The bridge will link cities in the Pearl River Delta, including Shenzhen, when it opens.

The number of new firms in Shenzhen surpassed 362,000 in 2017, around 1,000 new firms each day.

Around 92 percent of them are in tertiary industries, such as wholesale and retail, leasing and information transmission.