Recently, six provincial departments, including the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, jointly released the 2025 list of newly recognized headquarters enterprises in Sichuan Province, comprising 31 companies. Chengdu accounted for 22 of these. This is not the first time Chengdu has dominated the headquarters enterprise list. Since Sichuan initiated the application and recognition process for headquarters enterprises in 2024, a total of 128 companies have been recognized across two batches, with 89, or nearly 70%, based in Chengdu.
What qualifies as a headquarters enterprise? What are the reasons behind Chengdu's frequent dominance of the list? The provincial Development and Reform Commission and other departments provide a precise profile: a headquarters enterprise is a legal entity registered in Sichuan that fulfills functions such as tax payment, statistical reporting, and settlement operations. It engages in cross-provincial business through investment or authorized management, has reached a considerable scale, undertakes headquarters functions, possesses industry influence, and makes significant fiscal contributions. Additionally, applying enterprises must meet basic conditions including substantive operations, cross-regional or transnational business, legal compliance, and standardized management.
Based on the scale of the enterprise or its branches, the locus of actual control, and the functions undertaken, Sichuan classifies headquarters enterprises into three categories: comprehensive headquarters, functional headquarters, and growth-stage headquarters. Among the 22 provincial headquarters enterprises recognized in Chengdu this time, 12 are comprehensive headquarters, 5 are functional headquarters, and 5 are growth-stage headquarters. The pleasant surprise lies not only in the quantity but also in the more balanced regional distribution. An official from the Chengdu Development and Reform Commission noted that the inclusion of Kangtai Plastic Technology Co., Ltd. as a comprehensive headquarters and Chengdu Yingnuo Industrial Co., Ltd. as a functional headquarters marks a "zero breakthrough" for Chongzhou City in this field. Furthermore, Wenjiang District and Longquanyi District also saw enterprises make the list.
The recognition of headquarters enterprises is the result of the combined effect of a region's industrial development and other factors. For instance, Sichuan Baili Tianheng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., recognized as a comprehensive headquarters enterprise this time, is headquartered in Wenjiang. In 2025, its self-developed HER2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) T-Bren (BL-M07D1) was included in the Breakthrough Therapy Designation list by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). An out-licensing deal triggered a milestone payment of $250 million, the largest initial milestone for a single ADC asset in China. The company's current market capitalization exceeds 100 billion yuan, spearheading Wenjiang's rise in the biopharmaceutical sector.
From the perspective of officials at the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, business entities that successfully qualify as headquarters enterprises not only physically locate their headquarters in Sichuan but also possess substantial strength. Consequently, headquarters enterprises are regarded as a crucial indicator for observing a region's market vitality, business environment, and industrial development. Historically, Chengdu's focus on headquarters economy is not new. However, the pace and frequency of high-caliber corporate headquarters setting up in the city have noticeably accelerated in recent years.
Observers believe that Chengdu's appeal to headquarters enterprises stems primarily from its superior business environment. In the "2024-2025 Urban Business Environment Innovation Report" released last October, Chengdu was awarded the title of "Annual Innovative City." This accolade is underpinned by a business environment characterized by "responding to all needs while avoiding unnecessary interference." Many corporate executives mentioned that in recent years, they have genuinely experienced a systematic upgrade in Chengdu's enterprise service model. Specifically, there has been a shift in philosophy from "passive response" to "active anticipation," a progression in role from "responding to enterprise needs" to acting as a "resource hub," and an evolution in the system from "solving individual problems" to providing "systematic support."
In September 2024, Chengdu launched the "Entering Ten Thousand Enterprises, Solving Problems, Optimizing the Environment, Promoting Development" initiative. Later, an upgraded version was introduced, exploring mechanisms like "having bureau chiefs on daily duty and chain chiefs receiving visitors weekly" to listen to feedback and solve problems face-to-face and substantively. To date, through this initiative, Chengdu has visited over 150,000 local enterprises and resolved more than 42,400 issues. By the end of 2024, the Chengdu Private Economy Development Promotion Center was officially inaugurated, making it routine to hear appeals from active enterprises weekly. The best indicator of a good business environment is corporate behavior. As of last September, the value added of Chengdu's private economy reached 920.97 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%, with a total of 4.0541 million business entities, ranking third among sub-provincial cities nationwide.
What do the numerous headquarters enterprises bring to Chengdu? The answer is a more complete industrial chain and a higher industrial tier. Data shows that last year alone, Chengdu welcomed the establishment of Fosun Pharma's radiopharmaceutical headquarters, Zhixun Innovation's national second headquarters, YUSUR's southwestern headquarters, and Huayun Zhiyuan's national headquarters for mining large models, among others. Once these projects are completed and operational, the number of recognized headquarters enterprises in Chengdu will increase further. The significance of these headquarters arrivals extends far beyond the title; it signifies a qualitative transformation of industrial chains. For example, Fosun Pharma's radiopharmaceutical headquarters plans to collaborate with Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town to build a "globally leading radiopharmaceutical production base." Currently, Fosun Pharma and Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town have jointly established a special fund, adopting a "capital + industry" model aimed at incubating a broader radiopharmaceutical innovation ecosystem.
Following Zhixun Innovation's arrival, it quickly collaborated with existing local Chengdu companies in design, testing, and equipment services to weave a tighter industrial ecosystem, advancing Chengdu's integrated circuit sector closer to the goal of "having leading players in the chain and no weak links in the环节." Many analysts view the密集落户 of these corporate headquarters and projects focused on "core functions" as indicating that Chengdu's industrial attractiveness has reached a new stage. They bring not only growth in economic aggregate but also propel Chengdu's industrial chain puzzle towards greater completeness, further enhance its "high-precision" content, and contribute to a more robust modern industrial system. In other words, the arrival of these headquarters enterprises and seed players is accelerating the "filling of gaps, strengthening weaknesses, and achieving domestic independence" in Chengdu's key industrial chains, injecting continuous vitality into the high-quality development of this megacity.
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