China - February 17, 2025 US companies capitalize on China's manufacturing upgrades, incentives (Voice_over) U.S. companies in China are taking advantage of the country's favorable manufacturing policies that include treasury bonds for equipment upgrades, and initiatives for consumer goods trade-ins. Last year, China earmarked more than 40 billion U.S. dollars in ultra-long bonds to support upgrades and trade-ins. Companies like Otis that make elevators are amongst those reaping the benefits as the company secured contracts to replace aging elevators in China. (Sound_bite) Chen Kang, Senior vice president for new elevators and modernization, Otis Elevator (China): "China now has over 11 million elevators in operation, equivalent to the total number of elevators in use outside the country globally. Of these, 900,000 elevators have been in service for over 15 years by 2024. Since the government boosts equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in policy, we've participated in hundreds of upgrade projects, involving commercial buildings, infrastructure, and old residential communities." (Voice_over) Meanwhile, building solutions provider Johnson Controls, also originally from the U.S., has expanded its footprint in China and now has more than 8,300 employees and 10 manufacturing plants there. The company provided HVAC and fire protection systems for China's first domestically developed large cruise ship the Adora Magic City and installed its air-conditioning systems for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. (Sound_bite) Anu Rathninde, President, Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific: "China has [a] complete supply chain, from raw material, from engineered components and devices to the services. With that, we are able to cut the time to market by 70 percent and at the same time achieve significant cost reductions, [so] that we can [better] serve the local markets." (Voice_over) According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the size of U.S. direct investment in China expanded from over 50 billion dollars in 2012 to almost 127 billion dollars in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 7.8 percent. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]