Money talks as Chengdu firms up hub credentials

City becomes home to 315 companies listed by Fortune Global 500

Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, is embracing new investment from all over the globe. It is now home to 315 companies listed among the Fortune Global 500 business, thanks to supportive strategies like the Belt and Road Initiative and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. This has bolstered the new-era western development that forms a two-city economic circle with Chongqing.

At the Siemens Digital Economy Forum held in Beijing on June 15, the German manufacturer announced it will invest in a new industrial automation production base in Chengdu to enhance its research and manufacturing capabilities in automation and digitalization, responding to the needs of Chinese and global customers.

"Through digitalization, companies can shorten research and development time, improve productivity and optimize life-cycle costs," said Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens. "With a series of investment initiatives in China, Siemens will help the country achieve its digital transformation goals and inject momentum into high-quality development."

The Siemens factory is located in the west zone of Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, and this latest expansion — its fourth — involves a fixed asset investment of an additional 1.1 billion yuan ($153.3 million). The project will create nearly 400 jobs and help Siemens strengthen its localization value chain across the country.

Home to a series of well-known universities and institutions, such as the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Sichuan University, Chengdu has attracted more than 270 integrated circuit companies, including such leading domestic and international companies as Intel, Texas Instruments, Chengdu Higon and H3C.

A group of local backbone enterprises, including Ganide Technology, Chengdu Sino Microelectronics Technology and Actt, also operate in the city, forming a relatively complete industrial system in IC design, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing.