Foreign direct investment into China's high-tech industries rose 35.1% year on year to CNY200.26bn ($29.88bn) in the first eight months of 2026, even as total inflows declined, Xinhua reported on September 19.

The divergence points to a shift in the composition of foreign capital entering the world's second-largest economy, where Beijing has been courting research centres and advanced manufacturing plants while overall investor appetite has cooled. High-tech sectors accounted for 41.7% of all FDI in the period, up 12.4 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Actual FDI in use across all sectors fell 5.3% to CNY479.95bn. A total of 42,582 new foreign-invested enterprises were established, an increase of 0.3%.

Manufacturing drew CNY119.55bn, while the service sector took CNY350.42bn. Investment in research and development and design services jumped 74%, services for the commercialisation of scientific and technological achievements rose 64.2%, and electronic and telecommunications equipment manufacturing gained 41.9%.

Zhang Xiaotao, director of the International Investment Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said the country's growing pull in high-tech sectors marks a shift in what attracts global capital, from cost-driven to "innovation-driven," he told Xinhua. 

By source country, actual investment from France grew 39.2%, from Switzerland 16.7% and from South Korea 16.5%, with flows routed via free ports included.

South Korean semiconductor equipment maker STI is building a chip manufacturing base in Guangzhou with total investment of about CNY12.4bn, while German automotive parts group Schaeffler is adding CNY1bn to a humanoid robotics plant in Jiangsu province.

In June, Beijing issued a 15-measure action plan on foreign investment covering market access, investment procedures and protections for foreign investors. A revised Catalog of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment took effect on February 1, directing capital towards advanced manufacturing, modern services and the central, western and northeastern regions.