Shenzhen has opened 2026 with a sharp rise in both foreign trade and inward investment in the first quarter as high‑tech manufacturing and services continue to drive the city’s outward pull.
According to Shenzhen authorities and promotional agencies, the city’s total imports and exports in the first quarter reached around 1.32 trillion yuan, up more than 33 percent year‑on‑year and keeping Shenzhen at or near the top of China’s mainland cities by trade volume.
Officials say the momentum seen in the first two months – when imports and exports surged over 37 percent – carried through March, helped by strong demand for the so‑called “new three” exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products, as well as a jump in shipments of drones, 3D printers and other advanced electronics.
Behind those numbers is a parallel surge in foreign investment. In the first quarter, Shenzhen’s actual utilized foreign investment reached roughly 17 billion yuan, a year‑on‑year increase of more than 47 percent, while newly signed contractual foreign investment exceeded 25 billion yuan, up over 53 percent. More than 2,700 new foreign‑invested enterprises were set up in the city over the three‑month period, an increase of about 15 percent.
[See more: Shenzhen’s robotics industry surpassed 240 billion yuan in output last year]
According to official Q1 figures, high‑end manufacturing remained a primary magnet for foreign capital, with Sweden‑based Hexagon breaking ground on a high‑end measurement‑equipment and sensor intelligent manufacturing park in Longhua District, Finland’s Salcomp expanding its production lines and R&D facilities, Finland’s Kone setting up a South China headquarters in the city, and Switzerland’s Brusa scaling up its investment in electric‑vehicle wireless charging technology in Shenzhen.
At the same time, liberalisation in services is pulling in global professional firms, with US law firm Perkins Coie opening its first China office in Shenzhen in early April to target the city’s increasingly internationalised corporate sector.
Investment from APEC economies has been particularly pronounced as Shenzhen gears up to host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November.
In the first quarter, actual investment from APEC members accounted for more than 94 percent of the city’s foreign investment inflows, with new projects including a smart‑device R&D centre by a US company, a software centre from South Korea’s Mirae Group and the China headquarters of Japan’s Round One Group.
