China’s “go global” plan is helping position the nation as a leader in foreign R&D investment. Over the last few years, Chinese companies have been establishing labs and research facilities around the world, with nine new overseas R&D centers announced for a total capital expenditure of $224.3 million just in the first half of 2016, a record annual high for China. Beijing has progressively been amending regulations on foreign investment and encouraging companies to increase competitiveness by investing overseas, causing Chinese capital to increase in global markets in many industries. With companies pledging investments of $53.2 billion in the first half of 2016, China was the leader in global greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI), surpassing the US, which is usually the leader of FDI. Chinese pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have been leading FDI into R&D, representing 7 of the 16 newly established overseas R&D centers since early 2015.

Source: Financial Times