Tracking Chinese Investments in Overseas Industrial Parks

Over the past three decades, Chinese private and state-owned firms have aggressively expanded overseas, building and financing factories, warehouses, logistics hubs, and industrial parks. This tracker documents 194 such projects worldwide.

When this tracker is read alongside our trackers on overseas ports and airports, a fuller picture emerges of China’s growing global economic footprint. Chinese firms naturally gravitate toward places with easy access to markets, strong local demand, and infrastructure, such as ports and airports, in which Chinese entities have already invested. In other cases, industrial parks form one component of larger Chinese development packages that bundle infrastructure such as ports and railroads.

Of the 194 projects tracked, 145 are operational or under construction and 16 have been canceled or suspended. The status of the remaining 33 projects is not publicly available. Private firms are responsible for most of the projects (114), followed by state-owned enterprises (72 projects) and public-private partnerships (2 projects). Ownership data was unavailable for the remaining 6 projects.

Where and When are Chinese Firms Investing?

Economic logic drives most investment decisions, although strategic motivations can often align with economic ones. Chinese firms weigh factors such as existing trade agreements, local market size, and available infrastructure. Geopolitics matters as well. Several projects have been canceled or stalled following political tensions with host countries—India and South Korea are notable examples. Conversely, Chinese-owned industrial parks located close to major port and airport investments can reinforce broader Chinese strategic ambitions. In a clear illustration of that dynamic, the number of new project announcements surged following the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013.

Geographically, Chinese firms have invested in industrial parks on every inhabited continent. Sub-Saharan Africa leads by number of active projects, followed by Southeast Asia.

An interesting pattern in this data is Chinese firms’ appetite for emerging economies and middle-income countries—a marked contrast to the United States, whose overseas investment skews toward other high-income countries. That regional focus aligns with China’s broader strategic priorities. The Belt and Road Initiative, for example, has targeted developing economies, and Chinese policymakers have consistently framed their overseas engagement as an expression of solidarity with countries in the Global South.

Notable Projects

Some of the highest-profile projects in this dataset are industrial parks embedded within larger Chinese-financed port developments and special economic zones. Projects in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Gwadar (Pakistan), and Kyaukphyu (Myanmar) were designed from the outset to integrate industrial operations with port infrastructure, enabling direct trade links with China. Once operational, those sites have tended to facilitate deepening political and economic ties with Beijing—and their proximity to ports has made them more resilient to short-term economic headwinds.

Nevertheless, the success of individual projects is usually related more to local economic conditions than to political ties with China. The Russian Far East illustrates that dynamic well: many Chinese industrial parks there suspended or scaled back operations after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite close political ties between China and Russia, multilateral sanctions against Russia by Western governments and the subsequent retreat of multinational companies have dampened economic opportunities in the region. Since then, Chinese investors have also become much less interested in the region.

Conclusion

This tracker sheds light on China’s growing global economic reach. In recent years, many Chinese businesses have invested in overseas industrial parks and sought to expand into new markets. These businesses tend to be highly willing to engage with developing economies, and, together with Chinese infrastructure investment in overseas ports and airports, position themselves in places with convenient access to Chinese markets and global trade routes.

Data Notes

Though we have made every effort to include all Chinese overseas investment parks, this data should not be viewed as an exhaustive list. Smaller or unannounced projects likely exist beyond what is documented here, and the tracker will be updated as new information becomes available.

The definition of “industrial parks” has been left deliberately broad in order to encompass a wide range of economic activities. We consider industrial parks to include any site involved in trade and logistics or in the production of specific economic outputs. To simplify analysis, we have sorted all projects into three broad categories of economic activity. “Agriculture and Forestry” includes all sites dedicated to food production, as well as logging or forestry operations. “Manufacturing,” the largest category, includes all sites dedicated to producing manufactured goods, as well as activities such as mining that produce the inputs for manufactured goods. Finally, “Services, High-Tech, and Logistics” includes all sites dedicated to trade and logistics, as well as research and production sites for high-tech goods.

Location data for each project has been marked as either precise or approximate. Wherever possible, we have included the exact coordinates of the industrial park as confirmed by satellite imagery. In other cases, however, an exact location for the facility was unavailable. Sometimes, the project is still in the planning stage and the exact location has not yet been chosen. Other times, the industrial parks are dispersed across multiple locations, or a more precise location could not be found using satellite imagery.

For more details on the specific port and airport projects, visit “Tracking China’s Control of Overseas Ports” and “Tracking China’s Investment in Airports.”