Reference News Network, January 14 report: According to the Bloomberg website on January 12, US President Trump has been stirring global order for nearly a decade, and this year, his interference in Venezuela has pushed this trend to a new height. After a year of tariff wars and supply chain turmoil, the global landscape and capital flows are undergoing profound changes.
The report points out that as the United States is making increasing efforts to attract investment and production back to its homeland, Chinese enterprises are exporting capital along with manufactured goods, sowing the seeds for future employment, productivity improvements, and innovation in overseas markets.
The report says that when Chinese companies launched a wave of overseas investments ten years ago, their main approach was to acquire existing foreign enterprises and invest heavily in landmark assets, such as the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Now, Chinese companies are turning to building new factories abroad to seek revenue growth in overseas markets.
This emerging trend is beginning to show up in data. According to the OECD, in the first half of 2025, China's outward investment to other parts of the world exceeded that of the United States for the first time, accounting for 10% of the global total.
"The world is changing quickly," said Anna Novik, head of the investment department at the OECD. Chinese investment is shifting from resource-based projects to electric vehicle factories, and is increasingly expanding into the data center sector.
The report believes that this trend is bound to accelerate. Data from Rhodium Group shows that in 2025, the amount of announced overseas greenfield investments by Chinese companies, including factory construction, data centers, and other projects, is likely to set a historical record, and will continue to grow further this year.
Rhodium Group pointed out that in the first three quarters of 2025, the announced outward investment by China reached 106.6 billion U.S. dollars, with over 85% being greenfield investment. The influence of these projects is also becoming more evident. For example, ByteDance announced plans to invest about 3.8 billion U.S. dollars in Brazil to build data centers. (Translated by Guo Jun, Qing Songzhu)
This is a photo taken on January 9 in Jakarta, Indonesia, showing the site of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Indonesian-China Chamber of Commerce. (Xinhua News Agency)
Original article: toutiao.com/article/7595028788917092874/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.