China is the West’s corporate R&D lab. Can it remain so?
Foreign firms want Chinese boffins. America and China may have other plans
CHINA IS, FAMOUSLY, the world’s factory and a giant market for the world’s companies. More unremarked is its growing role as the world’s research-and-development laboratory. Between 2012 and 2021 foreign firms increased their collective Chinese research personnel by a fifth, to 716,000. Their annual R&D spending in the country almost doubled, to 338bn yuan ($52bn). Add investments by local firms and China now matches Europe’s R&D tally (see chart). Only America splurges more.
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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Research developments”
Business July 20th 2024
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