On June 26, 2024, the Wuhan Global Investment Promotion Conference was held. The conference attracted nearly 120 participants, including Fortune 500 companies, large multinational corporations, main enterprises from 16 industrial chains in Wuhan, technology innovation enterprises, and representatives from other well-known companies and business associations.

A total of 165 key projects were signed at the conference, with a signing amount of 201.868 billion yuan.

On June 26, 2024, the Wuhan Global Investment Promotion Conference was held in Wuhan. Photo by He Xiaogang, Changjiang Daily.

"The market potential is huge, the innovation atmosphere is strong, and the business environment is excellent..." Inside and outside the venue, many innovative resources settled in, foreign investment continued to increase, continuously releasing a strong signal that 'investing in Wuhan is investing in the future.'

At the conference, our city released investment opportunities in Wuhan and interpreted the Wuhan Industrial Fund, and made special recommendations on the optoelectronic information industry and Wuhan New City, the intelligent connected vehicle industry and the vehicle valley industrial innovation corridor, and the cybersecurity industry and the national cybersecurity base.

"New quality productivity" projects are becoming increasingly prominent.

As an important part of this conference, at the centralized signing ceremony, among the 165 signed projects, multiple key industrial fields were involved, including next-generation information technology, automotive manufacturing and services, high-end equipment manufacturing, biomedicine and health, new materials, green environmental protection, commercial services, and new energy.

Zhejiang Chint Group is a globally renowned provider of smart energy system solutions and has been among China's top 500 enterprises for 20 consecutive years. This signing of the integrated project for wind and hydrogen storage and equipment in the Yangtze River New Area will carry out investment and cooperation in fields such as intelligent electrical, wind and hydrogen storage, comprehensive energy, and smart cities through the 'one park, one institute, one fund' + demonstration application model.

"We plan to invest 3 billion yuan for the construction of a full industrial chain for 3D printing equipment, materials, software, and printing services to support technological innovation in Wuhan," said Hao Weike, deputy general manager and board secretary of Shenzhen Jinshi 3D Printing Technology Co., Ltd. This investment in Wuhan is seen as the most strategically significant part of the company's national layout.

It is reported that the project is located in the Dongxihu District and will create an innovation center for the 3D printing industry in Central China, widely applied in several important industries including aerospace, medical, consumer electronics, and automotive.

Also signed were projects such as the Wiscat turbine shell production base project, the Zhenxiang medical vehicle production base project, and the Hubei Jiaotou automotive supply chain industrial park project, accelerating the construction of a full industrial chain development pattern with core competitiveness and upstream and downstream collaboration.

"Combining the advantages of the big health and new energy industrial chains, we will accelerate the landing of AI smart medical projects," said Yao Li, director of Zhenxiang Smart Medical Equipment (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. This signing involves investing in the Zhenxiang AI medical mobile vehicle project in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone, deeply integrating artificial intelligence technology with the medical and automotive manufacturing industries, promoting the popularization of smart medical services through intelligent and mobile comprehensive solutions. It is expected that after the project is put into operation by the end of the year, it will effectively fill the market gap in Wuhan's special medical vehicle field. In addition, the project will also help enrich the new business formats of Wuhan's automotive industry.

Global automotive parts suppliers continue to invest.

"Investing in Wuhan is investing in the future." At the conference, Jerome Maloney, Garrett's global senior vice president, introduced that he first came to Wuhan 12 years ago and witnessed the launch of Garrett's phase one capacity expansion project in the East Lake New Technology Development Zone. Last year, he was invited again to Wuhan to celebrate the launch of Garrett's phase two capacity expansion project.

"We sincerely hope that more companies can choose to settle in Wuhan, share development opportunities, and create a better future together," Jerome Maloney said, noting that Wuhan, as an important city in central China, not only has a superior geographical location and convenient transportation but also possesses rich talent resources and industrial support capabilities as well as an excellent business environment.

Data shows that in 2023, 378 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in the city, a year-on-year increase of 32.63%. The city's investment promotion bureau introduced that this year, our city has regularly held foreign enterprise salon activities and foreign investment enterprise symposiums, actively going out to attract investment overseas, attracting a number of high-quality foreign investment projects to land and achieve results.

Many well-known foreign enterprises have invested real money to cast their 'trust votes'. In March of this year, global automotive parts supplier Aptiv again invested 2 billion yuan to build its connector system factory in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone, making Wuhan one of the cities with the most comprehensive layout of Aptiv's business segments in China after Shanghai and Suzhou.

"We have been deeply rooted in Wuhan for many years and are active participants and beneficiaries of Wuhan's development, deeply feeling the continuous optimization of Wuhan's business environment," said a relevant person in charge of Wiscat Industrial (China) Co., Ltd., adding that Wiscat's Wuhan factory will add about 500 million yuan in investment for the automotive turbine shell project, which will be put into production within the year.

At the conference, the head of the Wuhan Investment Promotion Bureau introduced that Wuhan is accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, strengthening 16 key industrial chains. "We will continue to expand openness, improve foreign business services, and form a high-quality development ecosystem that attracts both nearby and distant investors, working hand in hand with entrepreneurs at home and abroad towards the future."

Wuhan is a cradle for enterprise innovation and development.

"Wuhan is not only an important base for our business but also a cradle for our innovation and development," said Li Bin, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, noting that Wuhan has provided tremendous support and convenience for the company in terms of policies, resources, and infrastructure, enabling NIO to gradually expand its charging and battery swap network and smoothly carry out energy service business.

"Wuhan is a vibrant and hopeful city that will attract more quality enterprises to invest," Li Bin introduced, adding that recently, NIO Energy has once again received a new round of financing support in Wuhan, and the company will increase its investment layout in Wuhan, strengthening technological research and development and manufacturing operations in the fields of charging and battery swapping, and energy internet, driving more upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to gather in Wuhan.

"There is a high consensus in the industry on Wuhan's good industrial foundation and potential for developing hydrogen energy," said Lin Qi, chairman and CEO of Shanghai Reborn Energy Group Co., Ltd. He noted that Wuhan is one of the earliest cities in the country to layout the hydrogen energy industry, and in recent years, the policy system for hydrogen energy industry development has become increasingly complete, with a richer variety of hydrogen energy application scenarios. In the next step, the company will integrate its years of exploration and practical experience in the hydrogen energy industry into the high-quality development of Wuhan's hydrogen energy industry, helping Wuhan build a hundred billion-level hydrogen energy industry and application highland.

Yang Hongjie, vice president of ZF Group's Asia-Pacific brake product line, said that backed by the vast Chinese automotive market and Wuhan's rich talent resources, ZF Group has been deeply cultivating the Wuhan Economic Development Zone for over 10 years, and the ZF Wuhan factory has become one of the group's most important production bases for brakes and vacuum boosters in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Relying on the automotive industry advantages of 'China's Vehicle Valley', I believe that more and more automotive parts companies will settle in Wuhan, further optimizing the upstream and downstream supporting system and automotive industry ecosystem in Wuhan," Yang Hongjie said.

The venue captures the highlights, while the discussions continue deeply. On the evening of the 26th, the guests took a night tour of the Yangtze River, engaging in negotiations and enjoying the light show along the banks of the two rivers. As the cruise ship passed over the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Yu Wei, director and general manager of Zhengxing Technology, raised his camera to capture the bridge from different angles. "It's really breathtaking!" he exclaimed, "The night view of Wuhan is stunning. In the future, we will actively seek cooperation opportunities with Wuhan to jointly promote the development of this city."