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Eric Ng

General Electric plans to invest more than US$2 billion over two years on the mainland to improve product development and fund manufacturing joint ventures in the power distribution and railway sectors.
The United States-based corporate giant has also announced the appointment of  vice-chairman John Rice to expand GE's businesses outside the US and relocate him to Hong Kong from next year. 
The heavy commitment in China and Rice's new role underline the allure of faster growth in industrialising countries to global technology companies in the face of slow growth in the US and Europe.
'We are raising the stature of everything global [non-US] in GE,' chief executive Jeff Immelt said, adding that non-US sales were expected to account for 60 per cent of total sales in the future after expanding by 15 per cent a year for most of the past decade. Non-US regions made up 54 per cent and Asia Pacific accounted for 13 per cent of last year's total sales.
GE is involved in aviation, electricity generation and distribution, health care, lighting, oil and gas, rail, media and finance. 
Rice will lead all of the firm's non-US operations 'with particular emphasis on high-growth markets such as China, India, the Middle East and Brazil', GE said. 
GE said it would spend US$500 million by the end of 2012 to fund research and development centres in six mainland cities - including Chengdu, Shenyang and Xian - to serve clients in western, northern, central and southern China, which would create 1,000 research, marketing and engineering jobs. It already has research facilities in Shanghai, Beijing and Wuxi. 
It also has allocated US$1.5 billion to finance joint ventures, including a 50-50 project with Wuhan NARI, a unit of monopoly power distributor State Grid Corporation  to make power grid  monitoring systems. 
In addition, GE is working with another State Grid unit, Shanghai Electric Power,  to buy a controlling stake in Shanghai Tianling Switchgear  that makes power distribution equipment.
GE has also agreed to a preliminary agreement to set up a 50-50 joint venture with the Chengdu unit of China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works (CSR) to develop propulsion systems and diesel locomotive parts. 
Another agreement has been signed with Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication to make rail signalling systems. 
These are on top of a recent agreement signed by GE with Harbin Power Equipment on land and offshore wind turbine production, and a diesel engine production joint venture deal with CSR in Changzhou, in Jiangsu province.



General Electric plans US$2b investment in mainland ventures