Huali Industrial Park: The "Industrial Chinatown" for Manufacturing Enterprises to Settle Overseas

Over the past century, Chinatowns have been economic and cultural communities formed by Chinese immigrants overseas. They are often the first stop for new immigrants when they step onto 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, including factory rental, employee recruitment, administrative approval, and customer expansion, for enterprises that have products and funds but know little about new markets and urgently need 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 as a group" and Zhejiang's "sweet potato economy".

1. The first step of going global: From mergers and acquisitions to green - field 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 major 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 cooperative 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 for going global.

In April of that year, Holley completed the registration of its brand trademark in Thailand. However, when Wang Licheng and Xiao Qijing sat at the negotiation table, "the customer suddenly changed his mind, thinking that our offer was too low, and 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 the controlling stake, and the actual investment would be much less than that of a joint - venture."

Holley's first step of "going global" was thus accidentally changed from mergers and acquisitions to green - field investment.

"After completing the ODI approval in China, the first batch of employees arrived in Thailand in August. In September, the investment approval for the factory construction was obtained, and then we transported the equipment there. After getting the measurement license in November, we started to apply for the tender of the Thai Power Company." Xiao Qijing recalled.

But soon, another accident happened. After Chinese - funded enterprises participated in the bidding, the relevant Thai departments temporarily modified the bidding rules to protect local enterprises, excluding 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 within the company thought that the conditions for development in Thailand were not mature, and it would be better to withdraw. But I thought that if the first attempt failed, there would be no chance for the subsequent internationalization strategy. So we still persisted." Xiao Qijing said.

After Holley persisted in Thailand for three years, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand learned about the unfair treatment Holley had suffered and protested to the Thai Ministry of Commerce, prompting the Thai side to restore the tender requirements. With more cost - effective products, Holley successfully won the bid and got 35% of the orders in the Thai electric meter market, the largest share among all enterprises.

After Holley entered the mainstream Thai market and achieved profitability, Xiao Qijing began to contact Amata Group, the largest industrial real - estate developer in Thailand, and started to buy land to build its own factory. He said, "The boss of Amata is a Chinese. During the communication process, 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. The cumulative total output value of the enterprises has exceeded 30 billion US dollars. There are more than 60,000 Thai employees and more than 6,000 Chinese employees in the park.

2. 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 in 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. In particular, Uzbekistan is in a period of rapid economic growth with an open - door policy and active investment promotion. 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." Hu Hai, the vice - president of Holley Overseas and the person - in - charge of the Uzbekistan Huata (Central Asia) Industrial Park Development Co., Ltd., said.

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.

Holley's overseas industrial park layout

"We are not simply doing industrial real - estate; we are building a global supply - chain ecosystem." Wang Licheng once defined the development goal of Holley's overseas industrial parks in this way. Under his plan, 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 all above 20 square kilometers; Second, large radiation market. The three major industrial parks face the Southeast Asian, North American, and European - North African markets respectively, and can serve as springboards for Chinese enterprises to enter these regions.

The "Three Small" refer to the Uzbekistan Huata (Central Asia) Industrial Park, the Dongxing Industrial Park on the China - Vietnam border, and the Central and Eastern European Industrial Park. They focus on local market expansion or manufacturing enterprises that utilize local resources, and the planned area is generally no more than 5 square kilometers.

The reason why Holley chose to build industrial parks in these countries is, on the one hand, that its main businesses such as electric meter production and sales have been deeply involved in these places for many years, accumulating rich 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 - exemption 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, making it 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. It must be re - designed according to the actual situation." Hu Hai said.

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 cooperated with some universities and colleges to offer courses in accounting, taxation, human resources, etc., and opened them to the employees of enterprises in the park for free. "Since there is 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.

3. The core advantage of the industrial park: In - depth localized resources

According to the "Report on the Contribution of China's 'Belt and Road' Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones 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 Chinese 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 ability to help enterprises solve practical problems in the process of localization is the key to determining the capacity of an industrial park."

Different from the Mexican industrial park, which mainly gathers manufacturing giants, most of the enterprises going 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, 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 them connect with the necessary operational resources, find local partners, and open up sales channels. Only when the enterprises' businesses are running smoothly can we consider the first - stage service completed. Only when the enterprises succeed can our industrial park succeed." Hu Hai said.

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 making profits from land price differences and rents to obtaining value - added benefits by providing all - round services for enterprises settled in the park.

Holley's soft ecological connection and service capabilities are due to the experience and resources accumulated in the process of its own product and manufacturing going global in the past 20 years. "Only by experiencing running a factory overseas in person can we know where the pain points of enterprises are." Xiao Qijing said. "So the local government also trusts us, knowing that we are not doing speculative business."

The large number of enterprises settling 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 playing the role of 'going global as a group'.

Currently, the biggest challenge for the Uzbekistan industrial park lies in how to break through the bottleneck of the local infrastructure such as water, electricity, gas, and roads. "We are also actively communicating with the government to tilt the limited resources towards the industrial park and 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 and over - capacity." Hu Hai said.