This year, efforts to build a unified national market have accelerated, with a series of policies being introduced.

The investment climate is constantly evolving, and the logic behind corporate site selection is also shifting.

Moving forward, how should investment promotion efforts proceed, and what factors are companies prioritizing when selecting locations?

Based on current trends in corporate site selection, we have identified five key trends.

01 The decision-making cycle for corporate site selection has generally lengthened

This year, a clear trend has emerged:

Regardless of the size of the leased space, companies are becoming increasingly cautious in their investment decisions.

Recently, a business development professional noted: “Most projects that are moving forward have been in discussion for over six months.”

Third-party data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, the average time for corporate site selection was 142 days—a full month longer than in 2021.

Previously, I worked on a project involving an optical lens manufacturer.

We’ve been in contact for nearly two or three years. The company has consistently expressed interest in relocating and visited the facility daily at the beginning of this month. It seemed like a deal was imminent, but they still haven’t made a final decision.

When making investment decisions today, companies place greater emphasis on “stability” and weigh their options repeatedly: Will the industrial park’s policies change? Will electricity prices rise? Will supporting infrastructure keep pace?

This is especially true for large enterprises, where internal approval processes are lengthy and different departments each have their own considerations.

The finance department fears cash flow disruptions, while the production department seeks to maximize efficiency—ultimately, everyone is afraid of making the wrong decision.

Most small and medium-sized enterprises focus on cost control and seek smaller-sized facilities to ensure cash flow.

Today, if risks can be clearly assessed, policies effectively implemented, and businesses feel they can rely on the environment, they will naturally be willing to commit to investment.

02 Companies Have Higher Expectations for Industrial Park Facilities and Supporting Infrastructure

“Apart from low land prices, there’s nothing else.” This was the genuine feedback from a company after visiting a certain industrial park.

With the rise of emerging industries such as the digital economy, smart manufacturing, and biopharmaceuticals, higher standards are now being set for the physical infrastructure and service capabilities of industrial parks.

This year, when engaging with companies, it has become clear that they place great emphasis on the “overall value for money” of a park’s physical space and supporting services.

The suitability of the physical facilities themselves has become a key consideration—and in some cases, even a “deal-breaker” for companies when selecting a park.

For example, a petroleum equipment manufacturer not only specifically requested a standalone factory building to ensure privacy but also explicitly required that the park be populated primarily by energy equipment companies.

Additionally, some R&D-focused enterprises seek specialized spaces such as laboratories and data centers to support their needs for concurrent research and production.

Beyond basic industrial functions, they also pay close attention to whether the park offers lifestyle amenities such as employee cafeterias, housing, education, healthcare, and commercial services.

These details directly impact team stability and production costs.

From this perspective, a comprehensive facility that meets both corporate production needs and employee lifestyle requirements is a key factor in attracting businesses.

03 Corporate Site Selection Prioritizes Efficiency

At this stage, companies are becoming increasingly cautious with their investments, and the principle of “spending every penny where it counts” is far from just a slogan.

The logic behind corporate site selection has shifted significantly, moving away from the past pursuit of extensive scale expansion toward an efficiency-first approach that scrutinizes details and calculates costs.

Companies no longer blindly pursue the expansion of physical space but instead calculate every detail meticulously.

Can logistics lead times be reduced by another hour? Can supply chain routes be shortened by 10 kilometers? Can operating costs be further lowered?

Take a certain food cold-chain company that chose Langfang as its location: it wasn’t just because the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway offers a 30-minute direct connection to Beijing, but also because of the cluster of cold storage facilities within a 30-kilometer radius. This allows the company to reduce fresh produce delivery times from 4 hours to 2 hours, cutting per-trip costs by 15%.

Similarly, CATL built a facility in Luoyuan, Fuzhou, deliberately choosing an industrial park just a half-hour drive from its headquarters, where 80 upstream and downstream enterprises are clustered.

The facility shares the same industrial park with its supplier, Fujian Wanshun, resulting in a sharp drop in logistics costs and a visibly improved efficiency in R&D collaboration.

The core objectives of corporate site selection are to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

For investment promotion, gaining a thorough understanding of a company’s efficiency pain points in advance, eliminating logistics bottlenecks to speed up delivery, and improving supporting infrastructure to facilitate smoother collaboration—helping companies clearly calculate their “efficiency equation”—is the key to gaining a competitive edge.

04 Corporate Expansion Prioritizes Regional Industrial Strengths

This year, foreign investment in new energy vehicle projects continues to pour into Shanghai, while Beijing is becoming a powerful magnet for pharmaceutical R&D firms, and Chongqing has emerged as a top choice for companies seeking to establish a foothold in the western region.

From the signing of the Lexus Jinshan plant, the Porsche Jiading R&D Center, SKF, and Fuyao Group to the launch of the Enke Battery project.

The successive entry of foreign automakers into Shanghai is driven not only by the success of the Tesla factory but also by the supply chain advantages of the Yangtze River Delta’s “4-hour industrial circle.”

More than 300 auto parts companies have formed an efficient supply chain synergy with Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui.

Earlier this year, AstraZeneca established a strategic R&D center in Beijing with an investment of 2.5 billion yuan, while pharmaceutical giants such as Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Bayer have also set up operations there.

Many pharmaceutical R&D centers have chosen to locate in Beijing’s Yizhuang District, driven by the unique advantages of the BioPark: the six major centers of the National Medical Products Administration are all concentrated here, with nine regulatory agencies and 16 top-tier hospitals within a 15-kilometer radius.

Here, pharmaceutical companies can seamlessly access the most authoritative review and approval processes. With key resources spanning the entire chain—from regulatory oversight to clinical trials—companies can significantly shorten R&D cycles and drastically reduce communication costs, making them naturally inclined to establish operations here.

Chongqing, meanwhile, has become a strategic choice for companies expanding into western China thanks to its solid industrial foundation and abundant resources.

Hapruin, Ruishi Chuangxin, and Geely’s intelligent driving R&D team have successively established operations here, while state-owned enterprises such as the National Pipeline Network and Chinalco have also been actively expanding their presence.

Although located inland, the city leverages the Yangtze River’s “golden waterway,” the China-Europe Railway Express, and the New Land-Sea Trade Corridor to reach the vast western market while accessing Southeast Asia and Europe at low cost. Undoubtedly, more companies will enter Chongqing in the future.

05 “New Trio” Enterprises Accelerate Overseas Expansion

This year, new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products have become among the most dynamic sectors in China’s foreign investment and cooperation.

The overseas expansion of companies in the “New Trio” sector shows no signs of slowing down, shifting from simple product exports to the full-scale globalization of entire industrial chains.

Taking power batteries as an example, companies such as CATL and BYD have successively established factories in Europe and Southeast Asia, building integrated production lines for batteries and complete vehicles.

Photovoltaic companies, meanwhile, are accelerating investment in factory construction in regions such as the Middle East and Latin America, promoting the local production of modules and raw materials, and gradually building localized, closed-loop industrial chain structures.

Meanwhile, new energy vehicle manufacturers are accelerating the construction of manufacturing bases in Southeast Asia and Europe, completing the development of brand networks, expanding charging infrastructure, and directly competing with international giants.

"New Three" enterprises are deeply embedding themselves in target markets through full-chain integration, achieving localization from production sources to end-user services, and forging irreplaceable competitive advantages.

Currently, many companies are mired in the quagmire of homogenized competition, with relentless “price wars” continuously squeezing corporate profits.

Expanding overseas not only drives the upgrading and development of related domestic industries but also serves as a crucial stepping stone for the domestic sector to break free from internal competition and carve out a “new blue ocean.”

In Conclusion

Today, corporate site selection logic has shifted, decision-making cycles have lengthened, and factors such as facility suitability and efficiency gains have become hard criteria.

Behind these various demands lies the corporate pursuit of “stability”—a quest for calculable certainty.

To break through in investment promotion, one must not only anticipate and address corporate pain points in advance but also calculate the “efficiency equation”—covering regional logistics and industrial chain synergy—more clearly than the enterprises themselves.

It is no coincidence that many companies are flocking to Shanghai, Beijing, and Chongqing; their unique and irreplicable industrial foundations and resource endowments have led companies to vote with their feet.

Only by deeply exploring their own irreplaceable strengths and maximizing their competitive advantages can local regions become indispensable options for businesses when selecting locations.