Sixty project deals receiving a total of more than $7.3 billion in foreign investment were signed in Shanghai at a ceremony held by the city’s government on Jan 10. 

The signed projects included nearly 20 regional headquarters to be established in Shanghai, particularly in the Pudong New Area. The foreign investors included several Fortune 500 companies, who invested in nine of the projects. 

An investment of $4.7 billion will be put into 39 projects in the manufacturing industry. Twenty projects involving things such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, automobile, finance, information technology, entertainment, and healthcare will receive over $100 million in investment each. 

Yang Chao, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said that the city attracted more expensive projects this year and that foreign investors are investing in a wider variety of fields. 

Shanghai’s strong business environment is attractive to foreign investors. This is the third year in a row that Shanghai has made specific plans at the beginning of the year to optimize its business environment. 

This year, once again, the city has stepped up reforms on its business environment and unveiled 32 new measures to attract investment. 

Official statistics showed that 6,800 foreign-invested project deals were signed in Shanghai in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 21.5 percent, with a contractual value of $50.25 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent, of which $19.05 billion has already been spent, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent. 

As of the end of last year, the city boasts 720 multinational corporation headquarters, with 50 introduced in 2019, and 461 foreign-invested R&D centers, with 20 being introduced in 2019. 

Pudong New Area was the most attractive investment area in Shanghai in 2019, receiving a record number of foreign-invested projects, regional headquarters of multinational corporations, and paid-in foreign investment. 

For example, German tech firm Festo, a global leader in automatic technology and technical training, is increasing investment to upgrade its regional headquarters in Pudong New Area due to its growing sales in China, where smart manufacturing is developing rapidly. 

Festo started operating in China in 1985 and constructed its regional headquarters building in Pudong New Area in 2000. 

The headquarters’ Asia-Pacific logistics center began construction in May 2019 and its 42,000-square-meter plant is expected to finish construction by the end of 2020. 

The American cold chain logistics company Kovy, who established a subsidiary in Pudong New Area, also planned to increase investment to expand its market there. 

The company will invest $600 million in a new R&D center, market promotion, and mass production. 

CHUBB, the only insurance company present at the signing ceremony, is currently attempting to build regional headquarters in Shanghai, according to the company’s China director, Bo Kaiwen. 

Bo said that the Shanghai Stock Exchange's newly-launched sci-tech innovation board brought great business opportunities for the company and that CHUBB has provided insurance products for several companies who want to apply for a listing on the board.