Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2025, China's gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed the 140 trillion yuan mark for the first time, growing by 5.0% compared to the previous year. Several multinational enterprise leaders stated that the Chinese economy has advanced under pressure, demonstrating stability with progress and a shift towards innovation and quality. The resilience, vitality, and certainty it has displayed have strengthened corporate confidence in the Chinese market, confirming the vast opportunities inherent within it. Companies plan to further deepen their presence in China to share in the dividends of its economic development.
China's economy maintained robust growth momentum in 2025, continuously solidifying the foundation for high-quality development and achieving numerous new advancements in innovation-driven growth, industrial upgrading, digital empowerment, and green transformation. Many multinational executives believe the Chinese economy possesses strong resilience and solid fundamentals, asserting that this sustainable growth, built upon structural optimization, holds greater long-term value.
Zhang Ying, President of Dassault Systèmes Greater China, stated that amidst a complex and volatile global economic environment, China's economy has demonstrated powerful resilience and the surging momentum of structural upgrading, the significance of which far exceeds a single growth figure. This not only profoundly confirms China's role as a "stabilizing anchor" for the global economy but also highlights its unique value as a "source of innovation" for the future.
Shi An, President of Rockwell Automation (China) Ltd., believes that the resilience and endogenous dynamism of the Chinese economy are clearly visible from its 2025 performance. Against a backdrop of "advancing under pressure," China's economy still achieved 5.0% growth, with the core driver being its consistent commitment to high-quality development. As the Chinese economy increasingly focuses on improving "quality," it provides a more stable and predictable development environment for multinational corporations, reinforcing Rockwell's confidence in deepening cooperation within China.
"China's economy progressed steadily in 2025, fully demonstrating its strong inherent resilience and a continuously positive development trend within the complex global economic landscape," said Zeng Chongkai, President and General Manager of Corning Display Technologies China. He noted that the ongoing upgrade of China's consumption structure, the不断增强 (continuously strengthening) resilience of its manufacturing sector, and the持续提升 (continuously improving) capacity for innovation-driven growth have opened new growth spaces for high-tech industries. Corning deeply appreciates the rising vitality of China's entire industrial chain system, which maintains robust and sustained demand for innovation.
Yin Tao, President of AkzoNobel China, also expressed high recognition of China's economic performance. She stated that despite a sluggish global economic recovery and intensifying geopolitical conflicts, China's ability to deliver such results fully demonstrates the powerful resilience, strategic resolve, and endogenous momentum for high-quality development of its economy. This also solidifies the confidence and foundation for the long-term development in China of multinational companies, including AkzoNobel.
The trend of China's economy moving towards innovation and quality is evident across numerous industrial sectors, presenting multinational corporations with broader and more multi-layered market opportunities.
Xu Xinxiong, CEO of Thai T.C. Pharmaceutical (TianSi Group), stated that in the food and beverage sector, opportunities in the Chinese market are continuously emerging, presenting a superimposed, all-round, and multi-level态势 (situation). China boasts a massive consumer market characterized by strong resilience, rapid innovation speed, and持续升级 (continuously upgrading) consumption structure. With consumers' health awareness不断增强 (continuously strengthening), demand for high-quality beverages is growing increasingly vigorous. The accelerated emergence of new scenarios such as cultural tourism, sports, outdoor activities, and digital consumption provides more diverse spaces for companies to unleash the value of their products.
In recent years, Medtronic has focused on digital and intelligent healthcare innovation, continuously upgrading its local value chain布局 (layout), and achieving a series of landmark progress. In October 2025, Medtronic's first digital healthcare innovation base in China was established in Beijing, becoming a crucial pivot for deepening local innovation. Gu Yushao, Medtronic's Global Senior Vice President and President of Greater China, pointed out that in recent years, Chinese innovation has shown distinct characteristics of being "fast, efficient, and intelligent," and China's medical technology industry is steadily transitioning from "fast-following" to a new stage of "breakthrough innovation." Medical technology innovation and open cooperation highly align with Medtronic's strategic priorities for development in China, further solidifying the company's confidence in its long-term commitment to the country. Within Medtronic's global布局 (layout), China is the only market that hosts two innovation centers and two venture capital funds simultaneously, giving it a unique strategic position.
In 2025, Corning announced plans to invest an additional $500 million in the Chinese market, further deepening its manufacturing and operational布局 (layout) in key areas such as optical communications, automotive applications, and display technologies, while also increasing its presence in emerging fields like AI data centers and semiconductors. Zeng Chongkai stated that the Chinese market provides fertile ground and a dynamic stage for high-end manufacturing and technological innovation. Currently, the new display industry is witnessing simultaneous progress in "diversified technological innovation" and an "explosion of application scenarios," with multiple technological pathways advancing side-by-side and achieving continuous breakthroughs. The ongoing expansion of application scenarios such as automotive displays, smart education, healthcare, and semiconductors also brings broader space for material technology innovation.
In recent years, AkzoNobel has continuously strengthened its local industrial chain布局 (layout) and improved supply chain responsiveness. Currently, the company has established 3 national-level green factories, 3 provincial/municipal-level green factories, and 2 smart factories in China. Yin Tao stated that China's push to develop new quality productive forces, leading high-quality development with technological innovation, highly aligns with AkzoNobel's long-standing philosophy of "driving sustainability through innovation." In sectors such as building materials, aviation, new energy vehicles, and shipping, AkzoNobel sees vast market opportunities.
The stability, growth potential, and predictability demonstrated by the Chinese economy continue to enhance the confidence of multinational corporations in the market, prompting them to firmly deepen their roots in China and increase their investments.
Gu Yushao expressed that for multinational companies, the key to seizing opportunities in China lies not in "entering" the market, but in "integrating" into it—becoming participants and initiators of Chinese innovation, rather than bystanders. In 2026, Medtronic will stand at a new starting point of the "Localization 3.0 Era," with the core goal of "China for the World." On one hand, it will accelerate the localization of global innovations in China, allowing cutting-edge technologies to benefit Chinese patients more quickly; on the other hand, it will stimulate innovation originating from China and promote its adoption globally.
Xu Xinxiong stated that 2026 marks the beginning of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period. China's strategic部署 (deployment) to consolidate the foundation of the real economy and expand high-level opening-up provides a clear development direction for TianSi Group. The group will continue to increase its investment in China, accelerate the digital and intelligent upgrade of its production system, optimize resource allocation by leveraging the national unified market, precisely align with consumption upgrade trends, and provide Chinese consumers with higher-quality products and services. This will be a practical action to implement the belief that "investing in China means investing in long-term certainty."
"Over the past year, Dassault Systèmes has continued to expand its presence in China by establishing a Greater Bay Area operational headquarters to support the high-end and intelligent transformation of manufacturing; we also jointly built the 'Sino-French Battery Digital Intelligence Acceleration Lab' with Chinese expert teams in Yibin, Sichuan, to promote value chain升级 (upgrading) in the new energy industry. These practices are vivid reflections of our long-term commitment to being 'In China, For China, With China, and enabling Chinese innovation to go global'," Zhang Ying said. He added that in 2026, Dassault Systèmes will continue to promote the dual-drive strategy of "technological deepening" and "ecosystem co-creation," focusing on the application of Industrial AI and Virtual Twin technologies, and expanding the local innovation ecosystem and industry cooperation.
Shi An stated that Rockwell Automation will actively integrate into China's vast market, focusing on solving real challenges in industrial and social development, and discovering new scenarios and creating new demands from pain points. For instance, in the field of urban renewal, it will continue to explore new models like smart green multi-level parking solutions to promote the intelligent transformation of traditional projects. Simultaneously, it will actively assist Chinese companies in "going global," creating a global service system that spans the entire lifecycle, resonating and growing together with China's high-quality economic development.
Comments