Chinese companies are stepping up investments to develop their own products without mimicking technologies acquired from overseas peers, reports Nikkei Asia. Companies listed in China spent RMB 1.64 trillion ($228 billion) on research and development programs in 2022, marking a 2.6-fold increase over the past five years.
“We have captured a market share of 90% in the US and Europe,” said Wu Jing, vice president of Jiangsu Shemar Electric, which listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2019. With ceramic insulators of electric power cables being rapidly replaced with those of safer composite materials, Jiangsu Shemar has developed a safer, lighter polymer insulator that has a longer life. This new insulator has made Jiangsu Shemar a world-leading company in the field.
Chinese companies have so far introduced cutting-edge technologies from Japanese, American and European firms and based their manufacturing technologies on them. They have been able to boost sales thanks to huge markets in China. But as the copycat strategy is not feasible overseas, they are starting to see limits to growth.
