The total output value of Foshan's industries above the designated size of 20 million yuan ($2.79 million) topped 3 trillion yuan in 2023, making it just the second prefecture-level city nationwide and the first in Guangdong province to achieve that milestone. The impressive result places Foshan at fourth place nationwide after Shenzhen, Suzhou and Shanghai.

The achievement represents a new bench mark in Foshan's contribution to Guangdong's manufacturing industry and a milestone in the city's history of industrial and economic development, local officials said.

As China's only city for piloting comprehensive reform on manufacturing transformation and upgrading, Foshan is in the process of building a modern industrial system supported by advanced manufacturing, requiring high-tech and strategic emerging industries to revive traditional manufacturing. Effective investment promotion and attraction are key for meeting that demand and bringing about new developments in the city's manufacturing industry.

Data from Foshan's investment and promotion bureau indicated that in 2023 the city's total signed investment reached an all-time high of 402.2 billion yuan, marking three consecutive years of record growth; investment values have surged to 200 billion, 300 billion and 400 billion yuan since 2021. Additionally, it introduced six strategic emerging industry projects in 2023, including CATL, Senior and Sew-Eurodrive that are each worth at least 10 billion yuan. Among them, the new material project invested in by Brunp Recycling, a subsidiary of CATL, set a record for the highest annual investment in a single project in the company's history. Foshan remains a favorable location for investors despite the complex and changing international and domestic economic environment.

Senior, a Shenzhen-headquartered lithium-ion battery separator manufacturer, has invested 10 billion yuan in fixed assets to construct its material industry base in Foshan, which is the largest industrial investment project in the city's Nanhai district over the past decade, and will help accelerate Foshan's industrial modernization within the global value chain.

A picturesque view of Foshan New City. CHINA DAILY

It took only 27 days to complete the industrial base project signing and land registration, even with a New Year holiday in between, according to Chen Xiufeng, chairman of Senior.

"The construction of the Foshan base has the highest efficiency among all our global bases, and the service provided by Foshan to the company can best be described as'a waiter's waiter — a very, very attentive and excellent waiter'," Chen said.

The approval and support given to Senior is common in Foshan. Chen Xinwen, head of the city's investment and promotion bureau, said: "We have allowed many projects to begin construction immediately after obtaining land permits, and we have shortened construction time through faster approval processes. This provides good opportunities for businesses to quickly build their production capacity and seize the market."

Dedicating themselves to empowering the city's industry through an optimized structure to explore a new type of industrialization, the local authorities also set up specialized investment promotion teams for identifying nine key industries of computerized numerical controlled machine tools, instruments and equipment, high-end equipment, new energy storage, new materials, industrial robots, medical and health, modern logistics and prefabricated dishes, with most being strategic emerging industries.

"Foshan has entered a crucial period of transitioning from old growth drivers and reshaping the industrial structure.

"Focusing on attracting strategic emerging industries will not only further optimize and adjust Foshan's industrial structure but also enable the city to better utilize high-quality resources in research and development, technology, talent and other aspects from neighboring cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, to achieve coordinated development," said Lin Jiang, a professor of economics at the Lingnan College of Sun Yatsen University.

With a group of new projects pending, Foshan is advancing the construction of the Northern Foshan Strategic New Industrial Park and top 20 characteristic parks to further the development of more emerging and competitive industries.

By 2025, Foshan aims to build 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters of new energy storage, healthcare and industrial robotics, and by 2026, it plans to develop and establish clusters of newly emerging industries at the value of 100 billion yuan or so, in about 10 fields, according to its plan.