National Development and Reform Commission Launches New Batch of Major Foreign Investment Projects, Logistics Included in List for the First Time

AI Logistics Project Included in the List for the First Time: How Can It Promote Supply Chain Modernization?

On the 17th, the National Development and Reform Commission announced a new batch of 13 landmark major foreign investment projects, with a planned investment of $13.4 billion.

The newly selected projects mainly focus on manufacturing, including electronics manufacturing, chemicals, automobiles, and electrical machinery, accelerating the development of industrial clusters.

At the same time, support for the service sector is increased. Logistics projects are included in the list for the first time, continuing to support R&D centers in fields like biomedicine, signaling China’s active efforts to strengthen support for the service industry and promote deep integration of modern services and advanced manufacturing.

A relevant official from the National Development and Reform Commission stated that efforts will continue to strengthen the work of the special team for major foreign investment projects, providing full tracking and service, and carrying out targeted actions to support foreign-invested enterprises, listening to their demands and resolving practical issues.

This is the ninth update of the landmark major foreign investment project list by the National Development and Reform Commission. Landmark major foreign investment projects are characterized by large investment amounts, strong industry driving effects, and prominent technological leadership. To date, these projects have cumulatively invested $108 billion, demonstrating significant demonstration and driving effects.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s utilization of foreign investment has exceeded $750 billion, with investments spanning 190 countries and regions. By 2025, China aims to attract and utilize foreign investment more vigorously, expand the opening of the service sector in an orderly manner, and continue to enhance the “Invest in China” brand. Annually, over 70,000 new foreign-invested enterprises are established, a 19.1% increase, with foreign investment totaling 747.69 billion yuan.

The government work report this year explicitly states the expansion of two-way investment cooperation. It emphasizes deepening reforms to facilitate foreign investment, ensuring foreign enterprises receive national treatment, implementing a new catalog encouraging foreign investment in industries, and promoting reinvestment and localization of foreign capital. Service guarantees for foreign-invested enterprises will be strengthened to enhance China’s reputation as an investment destination.

The “Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (2025 Edition)” issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce will take effect from February 1, 2026, replacing the 2022 edition. The revision aims to guide more foreign investment into advanced manufacturing, modern services, high-tech industries, energy conservation, environmental protection, and into the central and western regions and Northeast China.

Industry insiders believe that the acceleration of a new technological revolution and industrial transformation, along with the unstoppable trend of economic globalization, makes the revision and expansion of the encouraged industries list an effective response to foreign enterprises’ concerns. Optimizing the direction of foreign investment guidance is a proactive move for China’s broader opening-up under new circumstances. Foreign-invested enterprises will thrive in China’s larger, more open markets, deepening practical cooperation with local companies along the industrial and supply chains, achieving mutual benefits and shared development.

Since the beginning of this year, policies to stabilize foreign investment have been continuously strengthened. The 2026 National Foreign Investment Work Conference held in January and the key foreign investment project work meeting emphasized leveraging China’s large-scale and unified market advantages, shaping new advantages to attract foreign investment, and promoting stable and high-quality foreign investment work.

The Ministry of Commerce stated that this year, China will focus on the service sector, expanding market access and opening fields such as telecommunications, healthcare, and education in an orderly manner. Pilot projects will be implemented as soon as possible, supporting foreign service enterprises to extend value chains, develop professionally, integrate, and digitize, thereby expanding and improving the quality of the service industry.

Chen Lei, Director of the Development Strategy and Planning Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a recent briefing that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will continue to optimize the foreign investment environment, fully implement national treatment for foreign enterprises, improve the foreign investment service system, and ensure smooth access and operation. China welcomes more foreign enterprises to invest, sharing the vast opportunities in advanced manufacturing, modern services, high-tech, and energy conservation sectors. Additionally, efforts will be made to improve overseas comprehensive services and support mutually beneficial overseas investment cooperation for qualified enterprises.

Notably, since the beginning of the year, multiple regions including Shanghai, Shanxi, Shandong, Guangdong, and Jiangsu have deployed work to stabilize foreign investment in 2026, promoting the rapid landing and construction of foreign investment projects.

On February 3rd, Shandong held a foreign investment project scheduling meeting. The meeting emphasized advancing key projects in the “Three Batches,” forming a coordinated effort across provincial, municipal, and county levels, strengthening full-process tracking and comprehensive factor guarantees; revitalizing existing projects, leveraging the “Four Mechanisms and Three Platforms” to serve foreign-invested enterprises, and encouraging companies to increase capital and expand shares through policies like deferred taxes and tax credits.

Jiangsu announced that in 2026, it will launch the “Invest in Jiangsu” branding campaign to attract strategic and equity investments, promote reinvestment of foreign capital within China, and attract more multinational headquarters and R&D institutions. Zhejiang proposed to improve overseas comprehensive services and guide enterprises to optimize overseas layouts in an orderly manner.