China is the West’s corporate R&D lab. Can it remain so?

Foreign firms want Chinese boffins. America and China may have other plans


CHINA IS, FAMOUSLYRDRD, the world’s factory and a giant market for the world’s companies. More unremarked is its growing role as the world’s research-and-development laboratory. Between 2012 and 2021 foreign firms increased their collective Chinese research personnel by a fifth, to 716,000. Their annual & spending in the country almost doubled, to 338bn yuan ($52bn). Add investments by local firms and China now matches Europe’s & tally (see chart). Only America splurges more.

  • Source China is the West’s corporate R&D lab. Can it remain so?
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