April 2005

Made in China

Foreign-owned R&D centers are flourishing.

By R&D

There are now around 600 foreign-owned R&D centers in China, up from about 400 in 2002. The centers are concentrated primarily in the southern and eastern coastal region, which receives 88 percent of China's foreign direct investment. Last year, Roche, Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, and Novo Nordisk all established new Chinese R&D outposts. One reason for China's appeal: it's second only to the United States in its number of researchers, and Chinese PhDs work for substantially less than their U.S. counterparts.