Unified market upgrades biz environment
Q3 China is advancing the unified national market, with an urbanization rate of 67.9 percent and total retail sales surpassing 50 trillion yuan. As domestic demand expands, what structural opportunities does this vast, increasingly integrated market present for your portfolio, distribution channels and localization strategy? Does deeper market unification reduce operational fragmentation and compliance costs? How do you position your brand and product mix to capture demand from both top-tier cities and fast-growing lower-tier markets?
YIN: The super-large market is a prominent advantage of China, and the vigorous development of the consumer market is inseparable from the support of key sectors such as power grids, data centers, infrastructure, industry and buildings, all of which are industries that Schneider Electric has long served and is deeply rooted in. As one of the most local foreign companies, Schneider Electric has steadily increased its R&D investment in China and established a series of R&D institutions to power industrial upgrading and energy transformation. These investments have not only consolidated our innovation and manufacturing capabilities to better serve the Chinese market, but also enabled the export of more "Chinese innovations" to the world.
ZHANG: The continued development of a unified national market will help improve market efficiency, facilitate the movement of capital and resources, and support greater integration of supply chains across regions. This market development trend reduces fragmentation and creates a more predictable and transparent operating environment. As Chinese companies are expanding internationally at an unprecedented pace, and multinational corporations are deepening their engagement in China's economy, demand for sophisticated cash management and cross-border financial services continues to grow. Citi's global network and expertise in treasury and trade solutions well position us to support companies as they scale and integrate their operations.
LIN: China is accelerating its transformation into a globally significant demand center. The super-large unified market has generated a strong demand for innovative technologies and products. Expanding domestic demand not only drives the upgrading of terminal consumption, but also brings new development opportunities to the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. This has created a broad space for Corning's development in China. Corning has always closely followed the demands of the Chinese market. Through the cooperation with our customers, it continuously integrates more core technologies and materials capabilities into local products, enhancing the performance and added value of partners' products and expanding the space for more long-term meaningful cooperation.
LI: The development of a unified national market is critical to further improve the business environment for both domestic and foreign companies, regardless of whether they are State-owned or private. In 2025, the number of new foreign invested enterprise setups in China totaled more than 70,000, up 19 percent year-on-year. FDI into advanced manufacturing industries, such as medical equipment and aerospace vehicle manufacturing, registered an over 20 percent increase. Expanded market capacity, enhanced industrial efficiency, a thriving innovation ecosystem, and the free movement of talent have cultivated a favorable business environment. CBRE's recent client activities underscore this trend.
