GUANGZHOU, CHINA – November 5, 2026 – The 2026 Global Investment Promotion Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was successfully held in Guangzhou. Under the theme of “Invest the Greater Bay Area for a Brighter Future,” the conference closely aligned with the GBA’s strategic positioning as a strategic fulcrum of China’s new development paradigm, a demonstration zone for high-quality development, and a pioneer of Chinese modernization. Combining the main event with investment promotion activities in Pearl River Delta cities and roadshows and investment inspections in China and overseas, it provided a high-level platform for dialogue between government and business. It brought together senior executives from 254 companies, including Fortune Global 500 companies, China’s top 500 enterprises, and leading enterprises. These included 76 senior executives at the vice president level or above from multinational companies’ China operations.
“ZEISS will continue to expand its presence in Guangdong, with a firm commitment to digital transformation, intelligent manufacturing, and green development,” said Sven Hermann, CEO of ZEISS Consumer Markets, during the Investment Sharing session. He noted that the ZEISS Optical Valley in Guangzhou’s Huangpu District officially launched in 2026. With a focus on AI-powered glasses and augmented reality and mixed reality (AR/MR) technologies, the project aims to establish Guangdong as a global hub for the smart glasses industry.
Dmitri Croitor, Asia Energy President of Trafigura Group, highlighted Guangdong’s strong resilience as a national hub for manufacturing, trade, and commodity circulation. This resilience is underpinned by its role as a maritime gateway and its well-developed industrial clusters in refining and petrochemicals, new energy, and high-end manufacturing. The group will continue to leverage Guangdong’s industrial strengths to reinforce secure and diversified resource supply chains and facilitate high-quality industrial development in the GBA.
Libby Schaaf, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, said that the San Francisco Bay Area and the GBA, as two major engines of the global economy, could deepen cooperation in two areas. The first is to promote green and sustainable business development, addressing climate change while tapping into economic opportunities. The second is to advance the “Abundance Agenda” by improving housing, transportation, energy, and other infrastructure to foster an innovation ecosystem.
The conference announced 42 representative major investment projects. Spanning both domestic and foreign investment, these projects are concentrated in strategic industries such as semiconductors, advanced computing, new displays, new energy, high-end equipment, and new materials. The conference also launched the “Invest Guangdong · AI Application Model for Investment Promotion.” With authoritative data on industrial clusters, industrial parks, and policy resources across Guangdong’s 21 cities, the model can intelligently evaluate site selections, calculate investment costs, and facilitate industry chain collaboration based on project investment scale and specific sectors.
Investment Elite Cities were also announced at the conference: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Huizhou, Shaoguan, Zhanjiang, Meizhou, Shanwei, and Zhaoqing. The list was based primarily on progress in implementing projects signed at the 2025 Investment Promotion Conference, taking into account metrics such as the total contracted investment, the pace of capital inflow, and each city’s contribution to investment across the province.
The “GBA Tour” investment inspections were organized for participating companies before and after the conference. The nine Pearl River Delta cities hosted complementary investment promotion activities, while a series of industry-specific events focused on sectors including biopharmaceuticals, advanced medical devices, and semiconductor optical communications. Conference preparations were also planned alongside year-round roadshows in China and overseas and economic and trade activities marking APEC’s “China Year.” Outreach activities in the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other locations reached a total of 2,256 key multinational companies, facilitating targeted connections between global resources and the GBA’s industrial ecosystem.
Alongside the investment opportunities actively presented by Chinese mainland cities, Hong Kong and Macao leveraged their distinctive positioning to share their approaches and initiatives for participating in GBA investment promotion cooperation.
This was the fifth consecutive year that Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao jointly hosted the conference. The first four conferences recorded a total of 539 attendances by Fortune Global 500 companies and secured 5,718 investment and trade cooperation projects totaling RMB 9.03 trillion. 91.1% of these investment projects are already under construction, with paid-in capital reaching RMB 2.6 trillion. A number of benchmark projects such as those by CNOOC and Shell, China Resources Microelectronics’ southern headquarters, ZF, and Siemens Healthineers have been established.
About the Global Investment Promotion Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
The Global Investment Promotion Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an international economic and trade event jointly hosted by the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Under the theme of “Invest the Greater Bay Area for a Brighter Future,” the conference was first held in 2022 and has been held annually for five consecutive years through 2026.
Media ContactCompany Name: Department of Commerce of Guangdong ProvinceContact Person: HuangxiangmingEmail: Send EmailCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite: http://com.gd.gov.cn/
