No Tariff Bump Yet for Chinese Outbound FDI: Q1 2025 Update
Chinese outbound FDI held steady in Q1 2025 compared to previous quarters. Greenfield investment continued to dominate but new investment in offshore manufacturing facilities remained lower than in 2023/2024 as Chinese investors await greater clarity
Investment momentum
Updated China Cross-Border Monitor (CBM) data shows 90 major FDI transactions by Chinese companies in Q1 2025 totaling an estimated $19.7 billion. That represents a modest decline compared to previous quarters, but a 15.7% increase compared to Q1 2024.
Greenfield investment decreased by 4.6% from the previous quarter to $15.5 billion, accounting for 79% of total investment. Six transactions worth more than $1 billion were announced. The largest was a $4 billion green hydrogen project in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state, led by LONGi Green Energy, followed by Beijing Haoyang Cloud&Data Technology’s $2.2 billion investment in a 300MW data center in Rayong, Thailand.
New M&A transactions by Chinese firms totaled $4.2 billion, a decline of 28% compared to previous quarter. Two mega transactions drove investment: Tencent’s planned $1.3 billion purchase of a 25% stake in a new subsidiary of video game developer Ubisoft in France and HongShan Capital’s $1.2 billion bid for a major stake in Sweden-based audio equipment maker Marshall Group, the first major Chinese private equity transaction in Europe since Hillhouse Capital’s $3.7 billion acquisition of Philips’ appliance unit in 2021.
No Tariff Bump Yet for Chinese Outbound FDI: Q1 2025 Update
Chinese outbound FDI held steady in Q1 2025 compared to previous quarters. Greenfield investment continued to dominate but new investment in offshore manufacturing facilities remained lower than in 2023/2024 as Chinese investors await greater clarity on tariffs.
Read on the China Cross-Border Monitor