“We are confident in investing in China and hope to contribute to the high-quality development of Suzhou,” said Homma Tetsuro, executive vice president at Panasonic Holdings Corp and chairman of Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China.

Japanese electronics conglomerate Panasonic, one of the Fortune 500 enterprises, set up its first branch in SIP in 2003, and since then has expanded investments in the area several times. Last year, the second phase of Panasonic Factory Solutions Suzhou (PFSS), which is dedicated to developing and manufacturing high-tech production and service systems, broke ground.

L'Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, inaugurated the L'Oreal Suzhou Smart Fulfillment Center in SIP on Apr 26. The project, the first of its kind that L'Oreal has built in the world, integrates digital and intelligent technologies such as auto-picking systems and robots to boost the company’s direct-to-consumer capacity to 50 million orders per year. It meets the LEED Gold certification standards and will produce “green parcels” through eco-friendly design and materials.

Vincent Boinay, president of L'Oreal North Asia Zone and CEO of L'Oréal China, said SIP’s first-class business environment and continuous institutional innovations had boosted L'Oréal’s confidence in increasing investment in it.

SIP has provided excellent conditions for foreign investors like Panasonic and L'Oréal to expand their presence in Chinese market, and the latter, in return, have made contributions to the economic growth, improvement of industrial structure and scientific and technological innovation in SIP.