Japanese technology company Panasonic Holdings is accelerating localization efforts in areas ranging from research and development to product production and sales, while ramping up efforts to increase investment and expand its footprint in the Chinese market, a company executive said.
Panasonic Vice President Tetsuro Honma said, “China is not only a manufacturing powerhouse and a major consumer country, but also an innovator with great engineering talent,” stressing that China is continuously developing new technologies.
Tetsuro Honma
Homma said the company aims to improve production efficiency in the Chinese market, and the number of R&D staff, especially software developers, continues to grow, and R&D investment in the country continues to grow.
Mr. Honma said that Panasonic has achieved localization of product design, hardware, and software research and development in the home appliance field, and that this trend has spread to automotive products and lithium batteries, and localization of research and development is gradually progressing.
Since last year, many innovative products developed in China have been exported, and he believes this trend will definitely strengthen from next year. For the world’s manufacturing industry, China’s cost efficiency and responsiveness are worth learning from, he added.
Japanese multinational companies are stepping up efforts to promote the application of artificial intelligence technology and promote China’s digital transformation. Homma said the Chinese market is where AI technology is most closely integrated into people’s daily lives.
“On the one hand, we are applying generative AI to consumer products such as home appliances and home equipment. On the other hand, we are providing a wide range of components and production equipment to China’s infrastructure to support the development of AI technology in the country,” he said.
He pointed out that Panasonic’s goal this year is to apply Chinese AI technology to transform its core business areas. This includes not only product research and development, production, sourcing and sales, but also improving the speed and efficiency of operations and optimizing resource utilization.
Panasonic’s business in China currently accounts for approximately 24% of its global business size. The company has started construction and investment in 20 new locations nationwide from April 2019 to date, demonstrating its confidence in the Chinese market. Over the past year, we have been investing in AI-related electronic materials.
With an investment of 600 million yuan ($84.23 million), a new electronic materials project in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, focused on the semiconductor field will begin construction in October 2024, and another new electronic materials factory in Shanghai also began construction in September.
For foreign companies, the ongoing China International Import Expo in Shanghai provides an opportunity to understand the Chinese market and excellent opportunities for communication and exchange.
Homma, who is also president of the China-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said many Japanese companies still expressed interest in investing in China.
He said the chamber’s latest survey of Japanese companies in China showed that more than half of companies are currently increasing investment in the Chinese market or maintain a relatively positive attitude toward the Chinese market, while more than half of companies consider China to be the most important market in the world, or at least one of the top three markets.
After abolishing all restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector last year, China announced an action plan this year aimed at stabilizing foreign investment.
Zhu Keli, founding director of the China New Economic Research Institute, said China has sent a clear signal that it is committed to further opening up its economy to the outside world and building a world-class market-oriented business environment based on a sound legal framework.
Lifting restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector is an essential requirement for the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy, and will attract more foreign capital into high-end manufacturing, research and development, and design, helping the country move up the value chain, Zhu added.
fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn
