ABB adds over US$100 mln in China biz

ABB Ltd, a Switzerland-based worldwide leading provider of power and automation technologies, plans to add over US$100 million in investments in China this year.

The investment, which comes from the big gains in investments by another US$100 million in ABB's 20 local companies in 2007, will be used to support the expansion of research and development, manufacturing, sales and engineering services across the complete power and automation product portfolio in China, according to Michel Demar, ABB's CEO and CFO.

Since ABB has established its office in Beijing in 1979, the company has invested more than US$820 million in China by far. It has doubled its original plan of investing US$100 million in its Chinese operation in recent four years.

China has become the most important market for ABB in all aspects, according to Demar. The country accounted for 12% of its total orders of US$34 billion last year, beating Germany and the U.S.

In addition, China has become ABB's one main source of manufacturing materials. Last year, ABB's purchase in China crossed US$2 billion.