Foreign investment builds momentum

The ongoing 2017 Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, highlights the city's growing strength in attracting investment in emerging industries.

In May, Fortune magazine published a detailed report on the city's efforts to attract high-tech industries such as information technology, artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals. It also noted the city's ambition to become an international shipping and aviation hub.

The magazine cited a project of Foxconn, the electronics manufacturing giant from Taiwan, as an example. Foxconn plans to produce its latest generation displays with its most advanced 8K technology at the facility.

In March, the company began construction on the plant in Zengcheng district of Guangzhou.

With a total investment of 61 billion yuan ($9.2 billion), it is the largest single investment in the field of advanced manufacturing in the city since the launch of reform and opening-up in the late 1970s.

Representatives from more than 100 top-level global components suppliers such as Corning and Canon also attended the launch ceremony.

Terry Gou, founder and CEO of Foxconn, said he was impressed by the "speed of Guangzhou".

From the initial intent of cooperation between Guangzhou and Foxconn to the launch ceremony, it only took 100 days for such a huge project to settle down in the city.

The project will greatly boost the city's plan to become the "display capital of the world".

According to the estimates from the city's industry and information technology commission, by 2020, the value of the display industry in Guangzhou is expected to surpass 300 billion yuan, and the total production value of the city's electronic information manufacturing industry is forecast to exceed 500 billion yuan.

Innovation has become the driving force of the city's development.

According to statistics from the city government, the number of high-tech companies in Guangzhou reached 4,740 in 2016. The growth rate was the fastest among all the major cities in the country.

These high-tech companies have made technological breakthroughs in many fields such as stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, drone technology and new energy vehicles.

In the field of artificial intelligence, the city's production value of smart equipment and robots was nearly 50 billion yuan in 2016. The number of robots produced in Guangzhou ranked No 2 in the country last year.

The production scale of the biopharmaceutical industry reached 40 billion yuan last year.

The city has set up an ambitious goal to become an innovation city with global influence by 2020. The goal is to have 8,000 high-tech companies by 2020 and the production value of high-tech products will account for 50 percent of the production value of large companies in the city.

Its sound investment environment has made the city an ideal place for investors from all over the world.

In 2016, 1,757 new foreign companies were registered in the city, an increase of 23 percent from 2015.

Chen Jie, director of the Guangzhou commission of commerce, said there is good momentum in the increase of foreign investment in the city.