Dutch paints and coatings giant AkzoNobel has been stepping up investment and expanding its footprint in China—its largest single-country market by revenue—as the nation's economy transitions from volume-led expansion to high-quality, innovation-driven growth.
"Emerging sectors like electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, as well as evolving dynamics across different segments of real estate and industrial transformation, provide massive opportunities for multinational corporations like AkzoNobel," Gregoire Poux-Guillaume, CEO of AkzoNobel, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.
According to Poux-Guillaume, China now accounts for 13 percent of AkzoNobel's global revenue, with particularly strong growth in business-to-business segments such as marine, protective and powder coatings.
Meanwhile, China's steady advancement of high-level opening-up and supportive business environment have further facilitated the company's expansion across its 17 manufacturing plants in the country.
Even as the Amsterdam-based company optimizes its global manufacturing footprint, it has continued to expand capacity in China, most notably in Tianjin and Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
Production volume previously handled in the United Kingdom to serve the Middle East was transferred to China, where the local facility absorbed the surge while maintaining a 98.5 percent on-time-in-full delivery rate—surpassing AkzoNobel's global average.
"We do not see China as a low-cost manufacturing base. We invest in China because of its quality, efficiency and ability to innovate," Poux-Guillaume said.
"China is no longer trying to win by being a low-cost player; it is winning by being a high-quality and innovation-driven player. That is why we will continue investing here."
Central to this localized innovation is AkzoNobel's Shanghai Technology Center in Songjiang district, the company's largest research and development base outside Europe. Integrating AI into R&D has enabled its scientists to accelerate initial resin-combination testing tenfold, shortening B2C product development cycles from over a year to less than six months.
In the decorative paints sector, where renovation and repainting now exceed 53 percent of demand amid urban renewal, the center has developed targeted solutions such as waterborne rust-tolerant primers.
Beyond serving domestic demand, AkzoNobel is leveraging its global network across more than 150 countries to help Chinese enterprises expand overseas. Rather than merely bringing foreign technology into China, the company increasingly develops advanced products in China for global export, while providing localized overseas supply chains for Chinese manufacturers setting up plants in markets such as Hungary, Mexico, Indonesia and Australia.
Because coatings touch virtually every industrial surface—from building infrastructure, automobiles and COMAC's commercial aircraft to offshore wind turbines and marine vessels—the sector serves as a bellwether for the broader real economy.
Looking ahead, Poux-Guillaume pointed to high-tech downstream sectors, particularly electric vehicles, green energy and AI data center infrastructure, as key indicators of China's economic vitality.
"We see tremendous potential in the EV sector, where China's rapid development continues to set the global pace," he noted.
That confidence is backed by robust industry data. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's new energy vehicle production and sales reached 16.63 million and 16.49 million units, respectively, in 2025, surging nearly 30 percent year-on-year and accounting for 47.9 percent of total new vehicle sales.
Total NEV sales in China are projected to climb further to 19 million units in 2026, alongside surging overseas shipments that saw NEV exports double to 2.62 million units in 2025.
"China is a bellwether for our business in the world. What we can achieve in China, we can take and deploy elsewhere worldwide," Poux-Guillaume said.
"China is accelerating its industrial upgrading, and its rapid innovation in areas like green energy and smart infrastructure is creating a new wave of opportunities for multinational companies like AkzoNobel."
Looking further ahead, Poux-Guillaume emphasized that China will play a pivotal role following AkzoNobel's planned all-stock merger of equals with United States-based Axalta Coating Systems.
Scheduled to close in early 2027, the combination will form a premier global coatings leader named Axanzo, with its combined Chinese operations serving as a cornerstone for global innovation and growth.
zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn
