By outdoor-nature-child.com During the 2024 Shanghai Top 100 Foreign-invested Enterprises Conference, it was revealed that Shanghai has established itself as a major hub for multinational company regional headquarters, with a total of 998 headquarters recognized to date.
According to a report from Xinhua News Agency, Liu Ping, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government, emphasized that Shanghai is one of the world’s most attractive places for foreign investment. He noted that foreign-funded enterprises in the city serve as crucial engines for industrial upgrading, key players in fostering technological innovation, and significant contributors to the enhancement of urban functions. Currently, there are over 75,000 foreign-invested companies in Shanghai, with actual foreign investment totaling $350 billion. These enterprises account for nearly 60% of the city’s total goods import and export, 40% of industrial output, one-third of tax revenue, one-quarter of GDP, and one-fifth of employment.
Huang Feng, President of the Shanghai Foreign Investment Association, reported that in 2023, a total of 258 foreign-invested enterprises made it onto the Top 100 lists based on criteria such as operating revenue, total import and export volume, tax contributions, and job creation. The overall performance of these top companies has remained stable.
In Shanghai, both “new and old friends” in foreign investment are maintaining an accelerating pace. For instance, XunDa Elevator, established in 1980 as the city’s first Sino-foreign joint venture, has built a solid presence over the past four decades and is consistently ranked among the top enterprises. Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. stands out as the only company to simultaneously enter the top ten lists across operating revenue, import and export volume, tax contributions, and job creation in 2023.
Looking ahead, Liu Ping stated that Shanghai will further deepen reforms and focus on enhancing its level of openness, investment promotion, and enterprise service capabilities, aiming to create a new highland of openness to the outside world.