Huali Industrial Park: The "Industrial Chinatown" for Manufacturing Enterprises Abroad | Pioneers in Global Expansion
Introduction:
Going global is no longer an option for enterprises, but there are still many choices in the way of going global. Brand going global, supply chain going global, cross - border e - commerce... Behind each model, there are countless stories of arduous exploration by Chinese companies; North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America... On every distant continent, there are more and more international presences of Chinese brands.
From introducing foreign investment forty years ago to "going global in groups" today, Qiantang, as the main front of Hangzhou's export - oriented economy, has always been the bridgehead for enterprises to transform themselves and break through for innovation. The China Enterprises International Service Center has long been concerned about overseas markets and enterprises going global. Based on this, in 2025, we launched a new column "Wave Riders in Going Global" to find benchmarks in various fields for going global, disassemble practical cases from a professional perspective, precipitate methodologies in the process of seeking consensus, and explore differentiated development paths in non - consensus.
The following is the eleventh article in this column.
Over the past hundred years, Chinatowns have been the economic and cultural communities formed by the聚居 of Chinese immigrants overseas, and they are often the first stop for new immigrants when they set foot on unfamiliar lands.
For many Chinese manufacturing enterprises that have just "gone global", Holley's overseas industrial parks are like "industrial Chinatowns". They provide a series of localized services from factory rental, employee recruitment, administrative approval to customer expansion for enterprises that have products and funds but know little about new markets and are in urgent need of local resource support.
Since the construction of the first Thailand - China Rayong Industrial Park in 2005, more than 400 Chinese enterprises have started from Holley's industrial parks and made great achievements in overseas markets. In the view of Wang Licheng, the chairman of the board of Holley Group, this is the most concrete manifestation of "going global in groups" and Zhejiang's "sweet potato economy".
01 The First Step of Going Global: From M&A to Greenfield Investment
Twenty - five years ago in summer, Xiao Qijing, the current Party secretary of Holley Group and executive director of Holley Overseas flew from Hangzhou to Bangkok. His purpose of this trip was to negotiate with Thai customers, hoping to take this as the first step for Holley to expand its international market.
A few months ago, Wang Licheng proposed at the company's annual meeting that "internationalization" be one of Holley's three development strategies. At that time, Holley was already a leading instrument and meter manufacturing enterprise in China, but only a small amount of its products were exported to overseas markets through OEM.
Since Holley had a cooperation relationship with a Thai electric meter enterprise before and was relatively familiar with the local technical requirements for electric meters, Thailand naturally became Holley's first stop in going global.
In April of that year, Holley completed the registration of its brand trademark in Thailand. But when Wang Licheng and Xiao Qijing sat at the negotiation table, "the customer suddenly changed his mind and thought our offer was too low. We couldn't reach an agreement after a day of negotiation." That night, Xiao Qijing put forward a bold idea. "I told Mr. Wang that instead of setting up a joint - venture company, we might as well build our own factory. We could hold a controlling stake, and the actual investment would be much less than that of a joint - venture."
Holley's first step in "going global" was thus accidentally changed from M&A to greenfield investment.
"After completing the ODI approval in China, the first batch of employees arrived in Thailand in August. The investment approval for building the factory was obtained in September, and then we transported the equipment there. After obtaining the measurement license in November, we started to apply for the tender of the Thai Power Company," recalled Xiao Qijing.
But soon, an accident happened again. After Chinese - funded enterprises participated in the tender, the relevant Thai departments temporarily modified the tender rules to protect local enterprises and excluded Holley. The Thai factory that had already been put into production had to turn its market to neighboring countries such as Laos and Vietnam.
"At that time, some people in the company thought that the conditions for development in Thailand were not mature and it was better to withdraw. But I thought that if the first attempt failed, there would be no future for the internationalization strategy. So we still persisted," said Xiao Qijing.
After Holley persisted in Thailand for three years, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand learned about the unfair treatment Holley had encountered and protested to the Thai Ministry of Commerce, which prompted the Thai side to restore the tender requirements. With more cost - effective products, Holley successfully won the tender and got 35% of the orders in the Thai electric meter market, the largest share among all enterprises.
After Holley entered the mainstream market in Thailand and achieved profitability, Xiao Qijing began to contact Amata Group, the largest industrial real - estate developer in Thailand, to purchase land and build its own factory. He said, "The boss of Amata is a Chinese. During the communication, we both believed that it was an irresistible trend for Chinese enterprises to go global, so we finally decided to jointly develop an industrial park."
In 2005, Holley and Amata jointly developed the Thailand - China Rayong Industrial Park near Bangkok and the deep - water port of Laem Chabang. It mainly attracts Chinese enterprises in industries such as auto and motorcycle parts, new energy, new materials, smart home, and mechanical electronics to invest in the park. The Thailand - China Rayong Industrial Park has also become one of the first batch of "Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones" recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
From the initial 2 square kilometers, the overall planned area of the Thailand - China Rayong Industrial Park has now reached 20 square kilometers, equivalent to the area of Huangpu District in Shanghai. It has attracted more than 270 Chinese enterprises to settle in, with a cumulative total output value of over 30 billion US dollars. There are more than 60,000 Thai employees and more than 6,000 Chinese employees in the park.
02 The "Three Big and Three Small" Strategy and Differentiated Park Services
In June 2024, Holley officially signed the "Investment and Cooperation Agreement on the Uzbekistan - Central Asia Huata Industrial Park Project" with the government of Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan. Previously, Spot reported that in 2024, the number of new Chinese enterprises in Uzbekistan had exceeded that of Russia.
"Chairman Wang was optimistic about the Central Asian market a few years ago. Especially, Uzbekistan is in a period of rapid economic growth with opening - up and active investment promotion, and the market demand is growing explosively. Now there are nearly 50 direct flights from 7 - 8 cities in China to Uzbekistan every week, and they are basically full," said Hu Hai, the vice - president of Holley Overseas and the person - in - charge of the Uzbekistan Huata (Central Asia) Industrial Park Development Co., Ltd.
The Uzbekistan - Central Asia Huata Industrial Park is the third overseas industrial park laid out by Holley after the two major industrial parks in Thailand and Mexico, which means a new addition to the blueprint of Holley's global layout of "Three Big and Three Small" industrial parks.
"We are not doing industrial real - estate, but building a global supply - chain ecosystem." Wang Licheng once defined the development goal of Holley's overseas industrial parks in this way. Under his planning, Holley is gradually establishing a "Three Big and Three Small" industrial park system covering North America, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Central Europe, and North Africa.
The so - called "Three Big" include the Thailand - China Rayong Industrial Park, the Huabang (North Africa) Industrial Park in Morocco, and the Huafushan (North America) Industrial Park in Mexico. The criteria for "big" include two points: first, large area, with the planned area of each being over 20 square kilometers; second, large radiation market. The three major industrial parks face the Southeast Asian, North American, and European and North African markets respectively, and can serve as springboards for Chinese enterprises to enter these regions.
The "Three Small" are the Uzbekistan Huata (Central Asia) Industrial Park, the Dongxing Industrial Park on the China - Vietnam border, and the Central and Eastern European Industrial Park, focusing on local market expansion or manufacturing enterprises that utilize local resources, with the planned area generally not exceeding 5 square kilometers.
Aerial view of the 8.5 - square - kilometer planning of Huafushan Industrial Park
There are two reasons why Holley chose to build industrial parks in these countries. On the one hand, its main businesses such as the production and sales of electric meters have been deeply involved in these countries for many years, and it has accumulated profound political and business resources; on the other hand, it is the result of a comprehensive comparison of the geographical conditions of neighboring countries.
For example, when Xiao Qijing was preparing for the Thailand - China Rayong Industrial Park, he also inspected Laos, Malaysia, and Vietnam. In comparison, Thailand has more preferential tax reduction policies, a relatively open social and cultural atmosphere, and a better relationship with China. When laying out the industrial park in Central Asia, Holley also considered that Uzbekistan has the largest population, more open trade policies, and a central geographical location in Central Asia, which is suitable as the center for industrial development.
According to Hu Hai, currently, among the enterprises that have the demand to invest and build factories in Central Asia, one category belongs to industries with strong local demand such as new energy vehicles, home appliances, and building materials. The business growth of leading domestic enterprises in Central Asia has also driven the upstream component manufacturers in the industrial chain to settle here one after another. The other category is attracted by the rich cotton and non - ferrous metal resources in Uzbekistan, filling the market gap of the lack of deep - processing capacity in the local area and at the same time alleviating the over - capacity in China.
"The goal of Chinese enterprises to seek new markets overseas is the same, but the specific situations of each country and the main industries going global are different. So the operation and service model of the Uzbekistan industrial park cannot completely copy past experience and must be redone in combination with the actual situation," said Hu Hai.
For example, in Mexico, to ensure the safety of the surrounding area, Holley donated 30 mu of land near the park to the local government as a station for the national guard; to reduce the electricity cost of enterprises, rooftop photovoltaic equipment was installed in the park. In Uzbekistan, according to the common sales and inventory needs of the enterprises settled in the park, Holley planned an overseas warehouse and a Chinese commodity exhibition hall to help enterprises expand the local market. In Thailand, Holley cooperates with some colleges and universities to offer courses in accounting, taxation, human resources, etc., which are open to the employees of enterprises in the park for free. "Since there are a large number of Chinese employees in the Thai park, we once organized more than a hundred enterprises to have the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner together," Xiao Qijing said with a smile.
03 The Core Advantage of the Industrial Park: Profound Localized Resources
According to the "Report on the Contribution of China's Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones under the Belt and Road Initiative to Sustainable Development" jointly released by the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce and the United Nations Development Programme in China, as of September 2018, Chinese enterprises had built 113 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in 46 countries.
In Xiao Qijing's view, Holley is one of the earliest domestic enterprises to invest in and build overseas industrial parks. It has a high overseas reputation, more complete hardware facilities such as factories and surrounding supporting facilities, and is capable of providing one - stop services for Chinese enterprises. "However, compared with hardware conditions, the key to determining the ability of an industrial park lies in whether it can help enterprises solve practical problems in the localization process."
For example, different from the Mexican industrial park which mainly gathers manufacturing giants, most of the enterprises going global to Uzbekistan are small and medium - sized enterprises. These enterprises are good at product production management and customer maintenance, but their understanding of the overseas policy environment, cross - cultural communication ability, and problem - solving ability are limited. The cognitive level of the bosses and the internationalization ability of the expatriate teams are also relatively lacking.
Therefore, in Hu Hai's view, what Holley's industrial park is really doing is "not only selling the land and renting the factories to enterprises, but also guiding the enterprises step by step to complete a series of procedures, helping enterprises connect with the required operational resources, find local partners, and open up sales channels. Only when the enterprises' businesses are running smoothly can we consider completing the first - stage service. Only when the enterprises succeed can our park succeed."
Relying on a series of platform service capabilities such as investment approval, company registration, and employee recruitment, the profit model of Holley's overseas industrial parks has shifted from the traditional way of earning land price differences and rent to obtaining value - added benefits by providing comprehensive services to enterprises in the park.
Holley's ability to establish a soft ecological link and provide services mainly benefits from the experience and resources accumulated in the past 20 years in the process of its products and manufacturing going global. "Only by experiencing running a factory overseas can we know where the pain points of enterprises are," said Xiao Qijing. "So the local government also trusts us and knows that we are not doing speculative business."
The settlement of a large number of enterprises in Holley's industrial parks can not only give play to the agglomeration effect and synergy effect of the manufacturing industry, but also help enterprises to strive for more preferential policies from the local government, truly giving play to the role of "going global in groups".
For example, the biggest challenge for the Uzbekistan industrial park at present lies in how to break through the bottleneck of infrastructure support such as water, electricity, gas, and roads in the local area. "We are also actively communicating with the government to tilt the limited resources towards the industrial park to develop the park as soon as possible, so as to drive the development of the local industrial level and scale. We are also planning facilities such as photovoltaic power stations in the park to find opportunities to 'export' industries with leading Chinese technology but over - capacity," said Hu Hai.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Hangzhou Qiantang Enterprise Going Global Service Base". Author: Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global. Published with the authorization of Qiantang.
