Three Winning Paths for Chinese Companies Going Global
From Las Vegas CES to Los Angeles OCM: Observations on Chinese Companies' Global Expansion
By Lu Yuan, reporting from Las Vegas and Los Angeles
Last week, the National Bureau of Statistics released data showing that China's GDP reached 140.1879 trillion yuan last year, surpassing the 140 trillion yuan milestone for the first time, representing a 5.0% growth at constant prices compared to the previous year.
According to comprehensive research by the Ministry of Commerce and multiple institutions, Chinese companies' overseas expansion is contributing an increasing share, accounting for approximately 10% to 15% of GDP.
Attending CES, the world's premier consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, and the OCM food expo in Los Angeles, I felt that going global has become a mandatory question for every founder. Based on interviews with dozens of entrepreneurs, there are at least three winning paths for overseas expansion.
CES: The Premier Brand and Commercial Landing Platform
CES is the premier brand and commercial landing platform. Chinese companies represent the largest overseas exhibitor group. AI application carriers are landing in thousands of households. Chinese hardware hits are going global. European and American companies showcase technological and thought leadership. These are the five trends I observed in the global economy.
Consumer demand, once one of the three economic drivers alongside foreign investment and infrastructure, has seen the latter two lose their former glory. However, overseas consumer growth has become a new source of momentum for Chinese companies to reinvent "Made in China." What's different is that it's not about dumping excess capacity, but starting from scratch to research overseas market user needs, designing products with entirely new thinking, and genuinely achieving growth returns. This is the essential reason for the vigorous growth of Chinese companies at CES in the past two years.
Multiple interviewed entrepreneurs expressed pride in Chinese companies' performance at CES, while others coolly considered choosing exhibitions based on cost-effectiveness. TCL has replaced Samsung for two consecutive years as the core exhibitor in the main hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). This year's booth was spectacular, with hundreds of square meters of large screens hanging in the air, crowds of people, and meeting rooms for business negotiations right on site.
Going Global is Mandatory for Every Chinese Company
During CES, over 4,000 global companies and 140,000 people gathered in Las Vegas. Everyone made the most of evening time, with attending two or three after-parties being the norm. During my five-day attendance, besides daytime exhibitions and networking, I attended ten evening after-parties, most of which were Chinese major brand special exchange meetings, overseas alumni gatherings, China-US inner circle exchanges, influencer gatherings, and US company overseas expansion special exchanges. Chinese companies entering the global industrial chain and mutual integration is mandatory.
"Going global is mandatory for every Chinese company. There is no choice. We must go global, and we must evolve from exporting goods to exporting services," said Chen Xuanfeng, founder of Xcotton Insurance.
AI Going Global is a Dimensionality Reduction Path
Chinese AI shined brilliantly at CES, with robots and AI applications emerging endlessly. Elon Musk stated in a recent interview that the most likely to succeed in the future are xAI, Google AI, and CHINA INC. (Team China).
In emerging hardware fields like robotics, this trend is particularly prominent. Chen Xuanfeng pointed out that whether it's robot vacuums or humanoid robots, Chinese companies are already in leading global positions, and many overseas companies at the show are actively studying and learning from Chinese solution designs.
Chinese Hardware Winning Path: Hit Products Going Global
Going global with original hit hardware products in small, fast, segmented scenarios to gain welcome and brand recognition, then rapidly expanding scale—this is one of the successful paths for Chinese consumer electronics brand companies.
A batch of Shenzhen startups are advancing steadily. Shenzhen companies account for one-tenth of CES global exhibitors, and incubated companies brought by the Shenzhen Innovation Research Institute account for one-tenth of Shenzhen companies.
Traditional Industry Going Global Path: Mature Products First
Traditional industries going global are like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their magical powers. Unlike AI hardware that requires researching European and American customers before launching new products, the food industry can directly bring their mature products to test the US market first.
Future Path: Chinese Enterprise Services Going Global
Exhibition data confirms the presence of Chinese companies. This CES had 839 Chinese companies exhibiting, accounting for about one-third of total exhibitors, second only to the US's 1,089 companies.
US Innovation Mechanism is the Foundation of Enterprise Innovation
US exhibition after-parties are great opportunities for entrepreneurs to deeply exchange and promote cooperation every day. Some CES participating entrepreneurs said they can see that Chinese companies do AI applications very well, but in basic technological innovation, US companies are still braver, more confident, and most advanced.
The foundation of a country's development is the economy, the driving force of the economy comes from research, and the soul of the economy is business leaders. These key elements need to be clearly defined and implemented in the national system.
