FTZ model becomes new driving force

Global firms are shifting investment focus from building conventional plants to establishing high-end factories

When Tao Lin, vice-president of the California-based Tesla Inc, and her colleagues visited a site in Shanghai's Lingang area where the company planned to build its first factory outside of the United States one year ago, they didn't expect that the plant would become a part of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

"It was only farmland where watermelons were being grown at that time," she said, adding Tesla's workers are now installing air-conditioners in the plant and they will complete the manufacturing facility project by the end of this year.